tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28608653028395455952018-04-10T04:58:05.377-07:00Much ado about ShakespeareSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-60471169236420715302017-10-18T12:24:00.000-07:002017-11-09T07:25:35.333-08:00Wide Awake in Royal Albert Hall<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>1462</o:Words> <o:Characters>7754</o:Characters> <o:Company>Privat</o:Company> <o:Lines>64</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>18</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>9198</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> 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style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">It has taken me a while to collect my thoughts after Friday's amazing concert. On Friday the 13<sup>th</sup>of October, 2017, we witnessed pure musical and performance magic in the Royal Albert Hall. Below will follow not so much a review but more an attempt to describe the emotional journey a concert like this takes its listeners on. Something completely beyond words and description occurs, and this is what I will try to find the words to convey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">The regular readers of my blog will remember that I have told you about the wonderful Marillion before on many occasions. Their music has been an inspirational backdrop to my life for several years. Here we go again.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;When the band announced that they were going to perform in the enigmatic Royal Albert Hall, I just knew I had to get tickets.&nbsp;That in itself was not an easy task as the tickets sold out incredibly fast (I have heard that most of the tickets were ripped away in less than ten minutes, but I could be mistaken here…). But at last, with the help of a link from Stephanie (Marillion management, thank you x), I managed to get three tickets (and at that point I didn't care where we were seated, as long as we got tickets), one for my twelve-year-old son, one for my partner and one for me. We were going to see Marillion in the Royal Albert Hall!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">We travelled from Leicester, the city of the successful UK Marillion convention this year (the one I sadly missed because I was in the finishing process of my Master thesis), to London. We quickly maneuvered towards the iconic venue. The closer we got, the more Marillion T-shirts and happy faces we saw (and pubs so full that the Marillion fans were practically pouring out of the doors onto the pavement). We could even smile to people and get a smile in return…not a usual thing in London </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;wingdings&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">J</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;"> And there it was… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">Royal Albert Hall has been the epitome stage of musical and cultural expression since 1871. And for that reason it is not difficult to understand why playing there is considered a massive honour and a high point in one's career. Marillion definitely deserve to finally grace this classical venue with the music that, in my opinion, is a ticket to a better life. I want to keep them to myself, but on the other hand, the whole world should know the songs as I do...the world WOULD be a better place, of that I have no doubt.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">So, the concert...on the way in we were given finger lights for audience shenanigans for the song&nbsp;<i>GO!</i> which was one of the things my son was looking forward to..to be honest, so was I. We found our seats, and felt the magic descending just by sitting there in the iconic hall, surrounded by the echo of history. We looked around and could see familiar faces in every direction, smiling, anticipating what was about to bring us together, the music and lyrics, and musical and vocal deliveries of world class. Among the 4555 people there, I was first of all ecstatic to share this experience with the two favourite people in my world, my boyfriend and my son. Smilingly we looked around, our finger lights ready for later, now the concert could start.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">When Marillion walked on and started the concert by playing their latest album, <i>FEAR</i>, I was a bit surprised for a second or two. Not that I didn’t like the fact, but I thought, you are <i>here</i>, you have so many great, iconic and legendary songs you should be playing instead...but I was about to be educated. I finally understood <i>FEAR</i> (and obviously I know that the music you have to work to understand often ends up being the music you appreciate the most. I have listened to <i>FEAR </i>almost nonstop since I came home). Right there in Royal Albert Hall, I completely broke down. I see it now! With the help of the beautiful and sometimes disturbing films showing on the big screen behind the band, the songs from <i>FEAR</i> took on completely new meanings, and the lyrics stood out in a way that only a live delivery can provide.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">What I take from their live version of <i>FEAR</i> is that the album is an important comment on the society of consumption and consumerism. Capitalism and Neoliberalism are definitely at the top of any political decisions made in the world, and these are matters we should and must address from a cultural perspective. Marillion have never been afraid of speaking up (for example, their last album, <i>Sounds that can't be Made</i>&nbsp;addressed the conflict in the Middle East), and <i>FEAR</i>is no exception.&nbsp;Artists and cultural commentators have been the legislators of the world through history, and I hope they continue to be. And just maybe their voices will make the moneymakers think...maybe?&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">But <i>FEAR</i> is not only about the new kings of the world, it is also about how the life of a touring band really is. <i>The Leavers 1-5, Wake up in Music, The Remainers, Vapour Trails in the Sky, The Jumble of Days </i>tell the story of how overwhelming and beautiful, yet bittersweet and heavy the emotional journey of what life on the road is like. But <i>The Leavers </i>gets its fantastic finale with the amazing fifth song, <i>One Tonight</i>. It is a profound musical statement of what it is all really about, why they do what they do, why we love them so much, we come together in music and <i>we’re all one tonight.</i> When this pearl of a song came I was left in tears, happy, cathartic tears, and I really felt as one with the band, the fans, the venue, it was absolutely sublime. The rest of <i>FEAR </i>took our breaths away, and the anticipation definitely grew for the second part of the concert.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">This part started with <i>Seasons End’s The Space.</i> Now, on stage, were a string quartet, a French horn and a flute. The proper instruments played live sounds so much better than the sampled sounds (no offence x). There is a tangible and vibrant authenticity to the way a violin sounds in the hands of someone who knows how to play it. I grew up in a family where Mozart and Bach were daily musical backdrops, so I salute Marillion for putting these brilliant young musicians on stage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">Steve Hogarth confirmed his position as one of the best singers in the world of progressional rock today. The last part of <i>The Space</i>is in a high key where he sings with a full tone (not falsetto), difficult on a good day. But he completely nailed it. I can only imagine (being a classically trained singer) how he must have felt doing a song of that difficulty level in a venue such as Royal Albert Hall. If he was nervous about it, he hid it well, as his voice was pitch perfect, full toned, and just brilliant. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">After a stop by the sun in&nbsp;<i>Afraid of Sunlight</i>, the band continued to play one of the most beautiful and emotional songs in their entire catalogue, <i>The Great Escape/Falling From The Moon</i> from their concept album,&nbsp;<i>Brave.</i>&nbsp;We all fell from the moon with the band...and we all rose stronger and wiser.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">But it was soon time for <i>GO!</i>&nbsp;we had to get our finger lights ready. <i>Easter </i>from <i>Seasons End</i>&nbsp;brought another moment of deep reflection concerning destinies around the world. <i>What would you do, make a stone of your heart...?</i>&nbsp;No, you can't make a stone of your heart when submerged in music the way we were in Royal Albert Hall. We breathed in syncronicity, we were one the whole night.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">Then we <i>GO! </i>The light show was spectacular from the beginning, multicoloured lasers transported the audience to the inside of a dream, on a cloud, <i>upside down…wide awake on the edge of the world. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">We put our finger lights on, and started counting. It had to be correct; we were not going to be premature lighters…one, two, three, four…and then…had I not been singing with all the others at the time, I would have been left speechless. Even thinking about it now makes the hair on my entire body stand up. The picture below is from that exact moment (pictures from Marillion’s page), but the picture, though beautiful, does not give a fair representation of what it really was like to float on the fluffy clouds of light and music, to have the soft rhythm of Mosely’s drums beat with the rhythm of our hearts, to have the harmonies of Kelly’s keyboards flow through us like the blood in our veins, to have the deep notes from Trewavas’ bass touch every nerve in our body, to have the enigmatic guitar of Rothery help us see into heaven and then finally Hogarth’s velvet voice guide us safely towards the dreamy, otherworldly existence where the only thing is now. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">GO! </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">was a tough act to follow, but going to the best album of them all, <i>This Strange Engine, </i>they both succeeded, and made the roof of the hall lift a few inches with <i>Man of a Thousand Faces. </i>Then a soft stop at <i>Waiting to Happen </i>from <i>Holidays in Eden, </i>before the final song, <i>Neverland </i>from <i>Marbles. Neverland is</i>&nbsp;one of those songs they <i>had </i>to play when in Royal Albert Hall. It is, in music and lyrics, a synopsis of the whole concert, a journey from the hard and sometimes difficult reality, to the soft and fluffy dreams of a fairytale Neverland. The epicness of <i>Neverland </i>became a worthy exit, and when a million golden pieces of confetti rained on those who were close enough, we all agreed wordlessly but with cheers and standing ovation that it had been one of the most profound musical experiences of our lives. They reprised <i>One Tonight</i> and then it was over…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">I imagine all the ghosts of great musicians and performers from the past were sitting on the gallery with their dangling feet and fluttering wings, letting these hours of heaven on earth reaffirm their trust in humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;My son was, and still is in awe of his first proper rock concert experience, one that I think might be difficult to top...but we will obviously take him to see more Marillion for (hopefully) many years to come. We all had an absolutely amazing time.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;times&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt;">Marillion, for years you have been the voice that subliminally told me to hope when I thought there was none. For years you have been my inspiration to create and step up my game. For years you have provided me with courage and comfort to dare to believe in myself. For years I have been lucky enough to understand and completely love your musical expressions. I am so grateful I was there with you in one of your biggest moments. I am so grateful I can tell other people about what was the best concert I have ever attended. I am, forever, <i>wide awake on the edge… </i>x </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br />Find a better life at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.marillion.com/index.htm">http://www.marillion.com/index.htm</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLWqZ0MoLco/WeVPx7McO1I/AAAAAAAAAkM/fyYbDfmZcW0Z90ycBbH6JwaNN5pn134OQCLcBGAs/s1600/22406028_10203730423897530_7271288872230958348_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="720" height="319" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLWqZ0MoLco/WeVPx7McO1I/AAAAAAAAAkM/fyYbDfmZcW0Z90ycBbH6JwaNN5pn134OQCLcBGAs/s320/22406028_10203730423897530_7271288872230958348_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-39244869148855967922017-08-05T03:57:00.002-07:002017-08-05T16:11:53.699-07:00Birthday sonnet for the love of my soulOne split in two, in the void before breath<br />Seeking the deep magic's union of love<br />A journey in awe, through life, towards death<br />Finding the one in the beacon above<br /><br />The secret revealed in the first soft touch<br />Electricity when skin touches skin<br />The closeness they share is never too much<br />Where only the other half is let in<br /><br />The love eternal touches time and space<br />The love eternal's guiding through life's mace<br />The path all enlightened by sweet love's trace<br />The sense of belonging shines in the face<br /><br />Two souls reunited in deep love's kiss<br />Two become one in eternal love's blissSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-25271801166979354032017-02-14T10:32:00.002-08:002017-08-05T14:19:21.643-07:00My ValentineYou are magnificent.<br /><div>Your compassion for your fellow man is admirable, and I sometimes wonder how you can look at people in the way you do, with interest and understanding. You admire people for their originality and eccentricity, rather than judge them for their otherness. I have not met anyone capable of this other than you. Other people, both people I know, and people we observe in the world, might believe they are capable of not passing judgement, but really most of us are narrow minded and judgmental, myself included. But not you. I would love to see the world through your eyes, I believe that is a beautiful world that has room for everyone, and definitely a world I love that I'm a part of.&nbsp;</div><div>This compassion is also visible in how you treat everything non-human as well. Having observed you carefully catch an insect in your hands and release it outside, is nothing short of heartwarming and amazing.</div><div>You are curious. When you find something that is of interest, you research it, learn about it, and are capable of talking about it, passing on what you have learned. I love to listen to your little narratives about both the past, present and future, and I hope you'll always keep this curiosity in your life. <br />You are gentle. I have never heard you raise your voice and get carried away by negative emotions. You are absolutely amazing.<br />You are funny. Your quiet humour is one of your best qualities. Sometimes when you tell a joke, you tell it with a straight face, and I have to think for a bit. But then it dawns on me that it was a joke, and I realise how funny it was...And I love how your face always is ready to smile.<br />You are caring. You help me carrying my troubles with me rather than leaving me alone with them. When ever I'm in pain you know, almost before I do, and instead of going away and not deal with it, you wrap your strong arms around me and let me know (almost without saying a word) that everything is going to be OK. And when I get overwhelmed when, for example, writing a master thesis, then you have an ability to calm me down and make me realise that I'm actually doing exactly what I intended to do, working as I should, and figuring things out. You make sure I remember my qualities, and that is one of the most powerful gift you can give to another person.<br />You are generous. If it wasn't for you, the times we spend together, living in different countries as we do, would not have been as frequent as they are.<br />You are passionate. I have honestly never felt more loved in my life than I do with you. I hope I show you as much love as you show me, because you deserve all my love for as long as I can breathe.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>You are magnificent, you are a giant, a titan...you are man as he should be and I love you now, and for as long as our souls can cling on to each other x</div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-62082390991845528842016-12-04T17:28:00.001-08:002017-08-05T14:19:40.117-07:00Christmas SonnetDear Trevor<br /><br />Crowded solitaire, felt lonely for years<br />Existing in chaos outside of time<br />Blind eyes in the void, then filling with tears<br />Softly hear distant Christmas bells chime<br /><br />Ruined memories of a hollow vow<br />The wrong kinds of people bound by a ring<br />Absolution in sadness, in Death's bow<br />Their souls joined in love and now their hearts sing<br /><br />Their journeys were testing, traveling far<br />Two parts of a whole, no longer apart<br />The universe sent them a Christmas star<br />The eternal beat of two lovers' hearts<br /><br />Heartbeat of Christmas is vibrating sound<br />Their miracle, true love is what they foundSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-5164586361600161042016-08-10T06:36:00.001-07:002016-08-12T13:16:43.916-07:00Birthday sonnetHappy birthday, my amazing man<br /><br /><br />Effortlessly they turn; universes<br />In this scale of things we are small<br />Your love reaches beyond the known blessings<br />Sublime state of mind where you are my all<br /><br />Your mind awakened a feeling of pride<br />The time spent with you is ten times more worth<br />Our love is so strong it reaches outside<br />We will never be alone on this earth<br /><br />The purr of you sleeping, comfort in sound<br />Erasing the decade of silence pain<br />Your hand in my hand when strolling around<br />Adoring the sun, embrasing the rain<br /><br />Fluffy cirrus clouds floating high above<br />The soft giggles of our hearts deep in loveSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-25284983393838710592016-03-17T17:26:00.000-07:002016-03-24T06:37:25.927-07:00Two years together Pendulum of emotions when apart<br />The motion like a constant rhythmic beat<br />A level five tornado in its start<br />Leaving Kansas here, landing in your street<br /><br />The wands of love in fairies' magic hands<br />Physical distance vanish with love's kiss<br />Magic brought us here - passion's hot glance<br />Bodies bound together - pure, naked bliss<br /><br />Stepping out of time, dwelling in the now<br />Feeling every moment tells our story<br />Cooking, dancing, singing love, that's the how<br />Victorious in our strong love's glory<br /><br />Your smile, your looks, your love, I know it's true<br />Amazing Trevor, know that I love youSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-56343744813074727672016-03-16T07:32:00.000-07:002017-11-01T09:58:15.554-07:00A peek into the Gaga mindMy music interest normally includes the progressional rock landscape, and Marillion and Steven Wilson are closest to my heart. I haven't really lent artists like Lady Gaga my ear. But in a subject called Reading Verbal and Visual signs in the Master course at university, I had to. I now find myself quite fascinated by the kind of bravery she shows, and how she is just as much a critic and provocateur of society as she is an artist, maybe even more so. Anyone can be beautiful and sing like an angel, but not everyone would dare to be beautiful and yet play on the ugly. But sadly it is easy to miss her comments in all the 'originality' she flaunts around. Or maybe what it is, is that you only find the hidden meaning behind the crazy costumes and strange behaviour if you're really looking, or if you're prepared to see behind the hit song and the Hollywood glamour?<br />I think I will have to look into her musical and visual career a bit more in the future. She is definitely a great singer, and the more recent music dives deeper into both difficult and taboo topics, and I highly respect that. And the beautiful and important song, Till it Happens to You, is absolutely heartbreaking. This entry, however, will be about a song from an earlier stage in her rocket career.<br /><br />There is a meta element in her career; she's using her magnificent fame to talk about magnificent fame. And we could just say lightly that she's original and special, or we could look deeper and see that there is a reason to the madness. This blog entry is the latter. I will look at Bad Romance as I would look at a poem. I will search for hidden meaning, I will search for the obvious and the obscure. And I might conclude with what others have concluded with before me, or I might have gone even deeper, let's see, eh?<br /><br />I have read a few comments on Bad Romance, and I realised that I only partially agreed, so I will focus on my own thoughts and findings. And I will also add that the following interpretation is my own, and therefore very subjective. I won't claim to have the answer to what this is all about, as I am pretty sure I don't. My teacher in Reading Verbal And Visual signs said that the wonderful thing about interpretations is that we can have different meanings as long as we can back it up with some sort of theory. And it is in that spirit I write this analysis.<br /><br />BAD ROMANCE by LADY GAGA (2009)<br /><br />The first image is almost a still shot where all the people participating in the video are presented. They are all motionless, and Lady Gaga is seated in the 'throne' in the middle. She's wearing a gold robe, and strange looking glasses of razor blades in the shape of sunbeams. She's in charge of when the real song starts and the fake cembalo music stops, even motionless she owns the room, but at this point there is no interaction with the viewer yet. Even with a close up of her face we feel detached from her, she is looking away, or so it seems, and her eyes are hidden behind the dangerous razor glasses.<br />When Lady Gaga then unleash the song, she also wakes up the monster. She has on several occasions referred to herself as a monster of fame, and this parable is taken further in the first bars of this song and the first frames of this video, when she (and her gang) are awakened by the sun. And here it is wroth noticing the Egyptian element. The sunbeam shines in on a dark room, and when it hits the mirror, the room lights up completely. They crawl out of what looks like ski-boxes to my Norwegian perspective, but probably are meant to be coffins. Lady Gaga's coffin has a cross and the word 'monster' written in red ink.<br />The group are all in white spandex, and they are all wearing masks that cover their entire face. Only small openings for the eyes. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, has a mask covering her eyes completely, stopping her from interacting with the audience even though she is facing the camera, but her mouth and nose are free. All of them are wearing strange looking crowns. The crowns could be meant to look like mad scientist hair, or antennas. They are definitely helping obscuring the human body. Lady Gaga has a very visible, sticking out spine, like monsters from history, it could maybe even be a link to the devil.<br />When they start to dance, they are lit up from behind, making them seem very silhouette-like.<br /><br />All of this is taking place in the Bath Haus oF GaGa, and historically every single culture on the planet has had some sort of bathhouse. It was known as a public bathhouse, but taking it as far back as the antiquity, to be a member of the public one had to be a citizen, and only few got that title. So the bathhouse in history was to the rich and powerful. It was seen as a place to meet and greet, both in a friendly capacity and in a political capacity. So with the setting of a Germanesque spelling of the bathhouse, we have our stage for the video. All the different scenes in this video are shot in the same room, this white, shower room, bathhouse, changing room of some sort, they just change angle, props and costumes. Even the scene where Lady Gaga is a distorted monster with a bat on her head, completely naked, with bones sticking out everywhere, she's in a dim lit shot in one of the stalls in the same room.<br /><br />When the song starts, the lyrics that is, we get a shot of a wide eyed girl in a bathtub. Even though she is looking at the camera, her eyes have been altered, magnified, so it is also distorted and wrong. Her hair is pale red, and she is portrayed rather child like. The next shot we get is her looking at us through a mirror, and through black sunglasses. Here she's all in black, with a black crown on her head. The black crown is an opposite to the white crown in the monster scene. She's still a queen...<br /><br />The first proper interaction we get with the artist is an extreme close up of her face, where she's natural looking, and her eyes are staring into the camera. But even in this shot we are tricked into seeing another truth than THE truth. It took me a while to actually see this detail, as I first mistook this for the 'honest' part, where she's looking at her audience, making them interact and maybe even get some sympathy for her. But then it struck me. The artist behind the character Lady Gaga has brown eyes. Her eyes in this close up shot are blue/green. So even in this show there is a veil of deception before the gaze hits the audience. &nbsp;This could easily be interpreted to meaning that we shouldn't believe a single thing we see coming from the entertainment business, or news as such, that we never know the full picture. Which of course is the same when looking at a close up. A face can say a lot, but it cannot reveal whether or not the person is bound on hands and feet, or if they are naked or wearing clothes, if they are bruised or have scars, and things like that. A close up tells the truth, but only parts of the truth.<br />Another element to this is that she's probably, though beautiful and natural looking, the MONSTER in this shot, as she's actually wearing the albino bat on her head. We're only seeing the face, not the full picture.<br /><br />Then she's dragged out of the bath house and 'drugged' (I read somewhere that the vodka the 'models' force her to drink is the MTV-approved drugging - forgetting that the most dangerous drug of them all is alcohol...long live double standards...), and dressed in diamonds to dance her Salome dance for the Russian audience. I was first looking for seven dances of seduction in this video, but realised she plays more roles than seven, a fact I will return to below.<br />They are all drinking a vodka that has cunningly been named Nemiroff, and I believe this is to make us think about Smirnoff. This Nemiroff vodka has been made by LEX, which is Latin for law. And many links could be drawn to these details.<br />Her saying she's a free bitch, and a close up of a Sphynx cat hissing, can be interpreted as yet another link to Egyptian mythology. We already have the link to Ra, the God of the sun, both in the first shots when she wakes up, and also in her words...'Rah Rah ah ah ah ah' But this could be a coincidence...Though I doubt that there are any of the sort. I think every step of the video, the song, the performance and the presentation are results of the bravery behind a creative process of this kind. And I think we, the audience, know so little about how this world really is, that we are ready to believe whatever we are presented with...And maybe most of us just think...well, that Lady Gaga sure is original...<br />The dance of the seven veils (Oscar Wilde - The Bible), could be present in the fact that we never see the artist as she truly is, we view her through her characters of various seduction, through different veils. There is also a madness element present throughout the whole video. The only rational character she portraits is the one who is meant to look natural. But then we can ask if she's mad because of the circumstances, or if she's mad because that's who she is? Or maybe the madness is a conscious choice? And then we can ask if it is madness at all?<br /><br />The most interesting scene is the one that is the most obscure, I think. When she's naked in the shower...but she's hardly human anymore. She is a full blown monster with a spine that is sticking out, and her body has been altered to look more insect, or animal like. There is an albino bat on her head, and the shot is presenting her as a creature of the shadows. I am tempted to look at this from many angles.<br />It could be how she truly views herself.<br />It could be how she believes the world view her.<br />It could be how she believes men view her.<br />Another thing with this part is that because of the lack of lights she seems even more marginalised than any of the other characters.<br />If this is, in fact, the body of the close-up face, then she is playing even more on the beauty-ugly metaphor. And she's definitely toying with us. When we see a fragment of a whole, we still expect the rest of the image to correspond with the fragment...when it doesn't, we can almost not believe it. Also this took me a while to see ;)<br /><br />At 3.16 or 3.18 something interesting happens.<br />Some have said that she's making the sign of a pyramid, and knowing that there is a definite Egyptian element in this video, that could be true...But I think she's making the sign of the cross. She is a Catholic after all...isn't she?<br />If it happens at 3.16 (as I think is the most likely, I just don't have the equipment to stop the video at the right moment), then this is probably a link to John 3.16 'For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' Is she saying that she's got eternal life through her fame?<br />But her making the sign of the cross could also happen at 3.18, and if it does it could be the light and the dark within her fighting. The holy trinity at one side, and the number of the beast on the other.<br />Of course, having mentioned that I don't have the equipment to stop the video at the right moment, it could be happening at 3.15, in which case it might mean something different completely.<br />Also, Lady Gaga makes a triangle sign with her fingers framing her eye, and this is an element she adds in all of her videos...Some say it's Illuminati again...I believe there is a Christian element, the good girl vs. the girl who does exactly what ever the hell she wants...the light and darkness fight we all have within.<br /><br />Then she's dressed in black lingerie surrounded by suspended floating diamonds. In front of her private parts is a diamond cross, and she's wearing a mask and has a harness on, that she's holding herself. The cross on her private parts could be there to shock and cause debate. It certainly doesn't look like it is because of her virtuous attitude. Maybe she's suggesting that she is innocent and virtuous to make the spectators think she's all that, when in fact she's on sale? This could be her contemplating the 'prostitution-part' of the business she's in? Of course, I am only speculating here, and my guess is as good as yours :)<br /><br />The part where she's a freaky fashion diva, striking poses (with a clear Madonna link), I believe she's commentating on the non-free will of the business. Be here, stand there, do this, sing that, dance on that stage, wear that designer's dress on that award night, be what we want you to be, never what you want to be. And I think Lady Gaga is one of those artists in the business that is a free spirit, and that dealing with her is like dealing with a storm. I can imagine that she has only a few people she can trust, and that who she really is, is a well kept secret (as it should be. None of us really have any business digging in public figures' private lives...but we do, greedily as such. It has become a business of its own; to snoop around famous peoples' lives, and think that our opinion of their shape, clothes, lack of makeup or too much, is really any of our business).<br />This part portrays her almost statue like inside orbiting planets, or something. It could be a link to the Illuminati, with a Gaga-version of Da Vinci's Vetruvian Man, or it could be her as the centre of the universe. I think both interpretations can be valid.<br /><br />She's wearing the fake skin of a polar bear when she's walking to the altar of love. Behind the bed are two gazelles, and their antlers could easily be linked to devil worshipping. But again I will disagree with the assumptions made previously, as the gazelles can be found in many of her videos. Certainly in Paparazzi. Though, having said that, she is 'killed' by a man under the gazelles in Paparazzi, so maybe it has a link to devilry. I believe it is more iconic. Horns doesn't mean devil. It can mean masculinity, it can mean phallic elements, it can mean something as benign as symmetry. And symmetry in a face means beauty to the human eye, and beauty is what Lady Gaga plays on in many of her videos, or diverge from.<br /><br />At last she is 'waking up' on the floor, wearing a red costume reminding me a bit about the costume worn by Leeloo in The Fifht Element (if you haven't seen this film, then that is your homework for next time, as it is probably one of the best sci-fi films in the world...).<br />Here I think we meet the most honest Lady Gaga. She's looking directly at us with her own brown eyes, probably her own hair, and she's entering the part of the song where her emotions come through in her singing 'I don't wanna be friends'...meaning she wants a proper connection to audience and to her male companions. A proper connection with LOVE - LOVE - LOVE.<br />She's presenting herself on the floor, almost throwing a child like tantrum, 'I don't want to...'<br />I have read that Lady Gaga wrote this song, whilst in Norway actually, and that it is about how she finds it difficult to make proper lasting emotional connections with men...but I also think that once an artist has released a piece of work, that work takes on a life of its own, and can mean whatever the viewer (in this case) wants it to mean.<br /><br />If you have been counting, I think you will see that she is in thirteen different costumes in this video (some of them have additions, and you could say that she's in more costumes, but I count 13 characters - even if the monster/close-up character is one and the same, but I think they are two different characters as they are meant to throw us off a bit...). The thirteenth being her smoking a post-coital cigarette next to her 'victim', almost like a human mantis, having bitten the head off her mate (though in this case she's stripped his flesh off...). She's the Judas of her Last Supper, sacrificing her own virtue and innocence in the name of fame (and having looked into the artist's career a bit, I know she's made a song called Judas, so I'm going to allow myself to draw this link...farfetched as it may be.)<br /><br />Some think that the last scene, where the man is burning up, is him being sacrificed to the devil, and that this part is her disclosing her occult side. I, however, believe the symbolism is far more loaded here than just meaning devil worshipping. Twice in the song she sings, 'I'm a free bitch, baby'. She's not owned by a male dominated syndicate, and she never will be. She's not willing to be sacrificed for the sake of money or sex, and she's in charge of her own career and life. The fact that the man that 'bought' her ends up as a skeleton, protecting his private parts (a link to when she was protecting her private parts just before the dance of seduction started), is a reversal of the historic virgin sacrifice. Turning it completely around, making the female be in charge in a male dominated both business and society as such.<br />It is also addressing the fact that for a woman in her position it might be difficult to find a romantic connection with someone. How will she know what kind of intentions lie behind any kind of suggestion? I also think she's thinking about the honesty, or lack thereof, in the whole business.<br /><br />Even though she is the one showing skin, and seemingly is objectified, in the end, the tables are turned. The male participants in this video, in this story, are shallow and undeveloped. They might want to come across as strong and masculine, but they are concerned with 'one thing only' and actually end up being objectified. She ends up being the character with depth. She's an innocent girl, she's a monster, she's a sex goddess, she's a distant public figure, she's an artist, she's a fashion icon, she's the sun in an entertainment solar system, and she's definitely not someone you mess with.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I</a>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-90784175980728221352016-02-24T04:45:00.002-08:002016-03-18T05:00:04.396-07:00Literacy and Patterns of Mind<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Annotation on Holme, Randal. 2004. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Literacy: An Introduction.</i>Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chap. 14<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Literacy and Patterns of Mind</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">In this chapter on literacy and the patterns of the mind, the author is discussing the mental processes at work when learning to read; the framework needed to manoeuvre between metaphors and understanding in order for the learner to crack the code of reading. He is also discussing the meta-angle of reading and writing, both in a contemporary and a historical perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The chapter goes through the different frames and schematics (mental patterns) needed in the decoding process, such as images and conceptual metaphors. Without an understanding of conceptual metaphors, the abstract ideas surrounding and interacting with humans at all times will elude the reader, thus losing grasp of content. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The author also covers the discourse of genre and how it is important to recognise the literary practices connected to the genres. Further, he says that the full potential within each genre, or image schema, can be accessed through writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The metaphors connected to reading and writing, how humans seem connected to, and captured by cause and effect, and the representation of origin seem important in this chapter. Reading and writing in a historic perspective could be as simple as a method of recording our ‘raison d’être’. Historically this could be shown as a family tree, or a totem pole, or other written evidence of human existence. Genealogy, spatial metaphors and lineage could be shown as an ascending spatial order in images of family trees, and wisdom, from for example the Middle Ages. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Towards the end of the chapter, the author contemplates all the various versions of literacy, and how to extend the spatial metaphors through which we grasp and analyse abstract meanings from, for example, the grammatical analysis of sentences. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>He concludes with seeing a link between practices, frames and schemas. The metaphors used in the search for knowledge, through reading and writing, belong within a discourse. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The main themes of this chapter seem to be that reading and writing are both mental and physical processes that have to develop together to give the learner a higher understanding and fuller capacity to develop further within the field. It is also my understanding that to be able to function within a society the learner has to familiarise him or herself with the commonly perceived metaphors, figures and tropes to be able to understand reading, and produce writing, thoughts that are strangely compelling. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Further I understand that the way we relate to the world of letters and fonts, images and visuality is coded within us in a way we do not contemplate on a daily basis, and it becomes intrinsic and internalised through the process of growing up. Also, the author is making the point that to be able to recognise discourse is as important as learning to spell and getting the motor skills to write. It is a part of a far bigger process than isolated spelling and pencil movement. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Writing exists in history, while the action of reading is more ‘here and now’, and by mastering both, the learner opens up access to the past as well as the present and in some way a prediction of the future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>We use literacy daily to access our history and our reason to be here. To make use of metaphors to understand is one of the elements that make us human. The tree-metaphor stretches beyond the representation of the physical tree in the forest, and can be applied in situations and arenas not normally connected to wildlife, for example in sentence analysis and in describing family, or even corporate constructions. 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The author is playing with all of these thoughts in a complicated, yet comprehensive way. It is sometimes a bit hard to follow what medieval images and sentence analysis has to do with the process of learning to read and write, but he makes his case in the conclusion, where he states how he wanted to take an unorthodox look at a the mental challenges involved in something as normal as learning to read and write. It is highly respectful to brave taking on the philosophical side of language and identity, and language development through reading and writing in a discourse where the linguistic view stands out as the most acknowledged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-12345649238611419142016-02-23T08:39:00.001-08:002016-03-18T05:00:27.310-07:00Learning new thingsI am currently working on my master degree in English literacy, and through this I learn so many interesting things. A subject we have had this semester is 'Reading Verbal and Visual Signs'. As a part of that we analyse images, as we would analyse poetry.<br />This is my first image analysis.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Our professor said there would be a competition on who could find the most interesting image (it was an optional competition, and only myself and a couple of others entered). I submitted two images, and I won with the latter.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: &quot;lucida calligraphy&quot;; font-size: 20.0pt;">Image</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;lucida calligraphy&quot;; font-size: 20.0pt;"> <span style="color: green;">analysis</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;">Image number one:</span><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tulkas and Melkor<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">This is image can be both centred and polarised in its composition. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The fists of Tulkas are in the middle, and may be the salient part of the image. His character is also in the foreground. He is looking determined and angry, and covered in symbols of almost angelic meaning. If you know the story of the War of Wrath from Silmarillion, this image is a fan made piece of art, taken from the moment when Melkor’s strength finally is overpowered. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Tulkas was a Maia who was given Valar powers. He came last to Middle Earth and tipped the balance in favour of the Valar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Much to Tulkas’ delight it was decided that Melkor had to be removed. This was a war to make Middle Earth peaceful for the coming of the Firstborns, the elves. Tulkas wrestled with Melkor and bound him with Angainor (chains) forged by Aulë, the smith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The reason this could be viewed as a polarised image, even though the other character is further back, is that the character in the back actually engages with the audience. The character is the evil Melkor (later known as Morgoth the destroyer). With breaking the fourth wall, Melkor’s character becomes more than the lurking darkness at the back. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The two characters are getting the same kind of attention because of how they are placed. Maybe as you see it first, Tulkas is in the front, but the moment you see Melkor in the back, it is as if he is forcing his way to the front.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">In this setting Tulkas is the New, and Melkor the Given, which is a twist of how we normally read the Given and the New. It is normally from Left to right. In this setting it is from right to left. <br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Tulkas represent the light and Melkor the darkness. And even though Melkor is surrounded by flame, it is not the light of day that drives him. It is the false light of the flames. Tulkas is glowing from his inner light from Aman. <br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We can also draw a line from Tulkas’ glowing eyes to Melkor’s glowing eyes, as a kind of horizon in an image without both heaven and light. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">If we divide the image into two, the one of Melkor could be a triptych, with him in the middle and the two Balrogs on the sides. <br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>All the spears of the soldiers are pointing the same way. And the spears are also prolonging the angle of the mountains. Making the mountains go on forever. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">This particular war shaped Arda (or Middle Earth), and the fights made even the land move, that’s how violent it was. The violence comes through in the image. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The mountains almost look like fangs, like the teeth of a dragon surrounding them, or about to devour them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The sight is compromised by the blizzard, and there is no light other than the one Tulkas embodies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">If I were analysing this image from a position where I did not know where it came from, I would probably put it in a Norse mythology tradition. This could easily be Thor and Loki in battle (though there is no hammer). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;">Image number two:</span><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Fifth Element<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Triptych in composition<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Three images, three faces. The interesting thing about this triptych is that it can almost be called a classic triptych with a religious theme. The story is a classic good vs. evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The character in the middle, the salient, is looking straight at the audience, making a connection. The character to the left and the character to the right are looking in the same distance, maybe looking at the same thing? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The space ships are flying towards the centre, increasing the importance of the middle character. Funnily enough, the character who IS the Fifth Element (Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich) is to the hero character’s (Corben Dallas, played by Bruce Willis) right, and not in the middle. He might then be a representation of the Given, and she of the New? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To his left, in good medieval image style, is the evil character (Zorg, played by Gary Oldman).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>However, if you have seen the film, you will know that the real evil is in the shape of a planet. And this planet is showed in the middle at the bottom of the image. The planet is red, almost as if it is covered in flames, and the characters at the top are surrounded by almost heavenly blue, even Zorg, who actually in the end becomes a sort of a comic character, rather than a true evil General. This is a rather classic depiction of good vs. evil, a blue and serene heaven vs. a burning chaotic hell. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>This whole composition is quite symmetrical, and the light of the ‘Fifth Element’ becomes a horizon line, dividing between heaven and hell. But it can also be seen as the bottom of a sword, though that might be stretching it a bit far. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The two characters at the sides are almost mirroring each other. Or they could represent the opposite? I believe they are opposites. They are the two characters who represent the earthly good and evil, and the planet becomes the Devil, and in a sense Corben Dallas becomes God. I am only speculating here, and this is a rather superficial analysis. From an image point of view, then, Zorg and Leeloo becomes opposites, and the planet and Corben Dallas becomes opposites.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">Leeloo becomes the weapon Corben Dallas eventually wields to beat the evil.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jdP-Y7oP7zQ/VrritZCVa8I/AAAAAAAAAdk/4uSWmEtIWHQ/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jdP-Y7oP7zQ/VrritZCVa8I/AAAAAAAAAdk/4uSWmEtIWHQ/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zqBzdWHxXDc/VrriyVaQ9_I/AAAAAAAAAdo/Hydq6H10knk/s1600/s1jdir0ghxtsj1x5nxjr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zqBzdWHxXDc/VrriyVaQ9_I/AAAAAAAAAdo/Hydq6H10knk/s320/s1jdir0ghxtsj1x5nxjr.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br />Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-4876774932750096452016-01-07T06:28:00.002-08:002016-03-18T05:00:46.403-07:00To What Extent was Anglo-Saxon England a Literate Society?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">This paper addresses the question as to what extent England was a literate society in the Anglo-Saxon period (ca. 500-1100).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It will present brief historical and linguistic backgrounds, and discuss some of the surviving documents. It will look at what being literate meant historically, and compare briefly contemporary and historic views on literacy. It will also consider what texts were produced, and what influences these had on society. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>First this paper addresses Anglo-Saxon history, how Anglo-Saxon tribes came to Britain, and what consequence it had on the development of both written and spoken language in the whole period. The paper goes on to look at what documents actually survive, and whether they can determine if the society was literate. Then this paper considers the impact and importance of the runic system as a separate alphabet, and as a parallel to the Roman alphabet. The Roman alphabet, and text production in both Latin and Old English will be examined. As will Anglo-Saxon England as a literate society, talking about literacy from a modern and Anglo-Saxon perspective. This takes the discussion to the importance of the church and religious literacy. Next the emergence of pragmatic and cultivated literacy in the vernacular will be explored. Lastly, this paper discusses King Alfred and the significance of his translating campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Whatever modern assumptions we have on literacy, it is important not to apply them to circumstances of earlier cultures (Clanchy 1993:8). Written records provide historians with material to study, and in this historic light literacy emerge as a measure of progress. In a modern perspective, literacy is such an important aspect that it is difficult to not see it as a civilising force. Having said that, Clanchy (1993:7) says that observing third world societies literacy in itself behaves like a technology. He further identifies literacy as the technology of the intellect. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Discussing literacy in this time period is based on a lot of educated guesswork and assumptions. The material available from Anglo-Norman England, make it easier to map the degree of literacy. This is not so with Anglo-Saxon England where the information is sparse. However, enough evidence survives making the following discussion possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Historical background: The Anglo-Saxons<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Anglo-Saxon period is usually defined as starting with the coming of Anglo-Saxon tribes, and concluding with the Norman invasion in 1066. According to Bede’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum </i>(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i>, written in 731) Germanic speaking groups settled in different parts of the country from the middle of the fifth century onwards (Barber, Biel and Shaw 2009:105). This was a lengthy process, as Anglo-Saxon domination in England was not assured until late in the sixth century (Barber, Biel, and Shaw 2009:105). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>For the Romans, England was always a colonial outpost, but it was also of high value with important resources and fertile land. The Roman and the British societies (Britons, consisting of the Celtic populations) were, according to Amodio (2014:4) two separate cultures that did not mix. However when the Anglo-Saxons arrived they replaced these cultures with what eventually became a united Anglo-Saxon culture with a Germanic language. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">To begin with, the Anglo-Saxons did not absorb the Latin culture at all. The Latin influence on language and literacy came at a later stage, with the arrival of Latin speaking missionaries at the end of the sixth century (Amodio 2014:11). Latin was then re-introduced as a mainly written and ritual language by the Church. Even though the Anglo-Saxons had a native writing system, the runes, there is little evidence of literacy before the Christianisation of the previously pagan Anglo-Saxon society. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Anglo-Saxon period lasted for almost 600 years. It is exceptional in a European perspective, as English became an early example of a written vernacular able to express both knowledge and culture. When writing was introduced with Christianity, it was in Latin. However, the written Germanic vernacular developed alongside Latin literacy. Accordingly, two languages, in which written records were produced, existed side by side. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Even though Latin was the more common written language at the time, the very existence of Anglo-Saxon texts from this time period is unique to England (Amodio 2014: Preface xi). Both original Old English texts, as well as translations of Latin texts, have survived. King Alfred (r.871-899), also known as ‘the great’, is understood to have commissioned the first Old English translation of parts of the Bible, as well as several other Latin works (see section 4.4). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The evidence of literacy in Anglo-Saxon England<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Written records in Old English do not start to appear until the eighth century, and then in larger quantities in the tenth century. The earliest records represent two different writing systems, the runes (see section 3.1.) and the Roman alphabet. Anglo-Saxon literacy is the result of a complex history, where both Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Saxon prose and poetry were produced by the Anglo-Saxons (Amodio 2014:24).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The evidence that remains today, such as Bede’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i>, King Alfred’s translations of various important texts, his prefaces, and epic poetry like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beowulf</i>, are the texts that make investigations of literacy in Anglo-Saxon England possible. However, the majority of the people who lived in this time were not literate, and whatever dealings they had with texts, it was through aural tradition rather than by audio (Amodio 2014:28). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The vernacular literacy is modelled on the Latin traditions (Amodio 2014:24). It is not fully understood as to why and how the vernacular gained respect, both in terms of ecclesiastical and secular literacy, when the rest of medieval Europe employed Latin for such discourse (Amodio 2014:26). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The sub categories will provide a deeper look at the evidence of literacy from the Anglo-Saxon period. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.1.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Runes and writing systems<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Anglo-Saxon tribes that settled in England, as mentioned above, brought with them the alphabetic writing system known as runes. The earliest settlers left behind a small corpus of runic inscriptions (Kelly 1998:36). Runes had been in use by Germanic and Scandinavian tribes from at least the third century, and was to compose shorter texts of various kinds. They were carved, scratched or chiselled into a flat surface, such as wood, stone or metalwork. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The alphabet was known as the Futhorc from its first six letters. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The runic alphabet and the Roman alphabet existed side by side for a while, and some of the runic letters, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">þ</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ð</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ƿ</i> were assimilated into the Roman alphabet, as they represented sounds the Roman alphabet did not have, and that the Old English vernacular needed. Words like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ða</i> (it) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">þæt</i> (that) needed the extra voiced and unvoiced fricative represented in the runic alphabet. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wyn ƿ</i> would evolve into the ‘w’. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ð,</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">æ</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ƿ</i> disappeared out of the Roman alphabet by the thirteenth century, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">þ</i>remained in the written language a long time after Anglo-Saxon reign was over. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The fact that these non-Latin letters found their way into the Roman alphabet is, according to Kelly (1998:37) an indication that some of the Anglo-Saxon scribes and clerics were literate in runes. Kelly (1998:38) continues to suggest that the Roman alphabet was introduced to the Anglo-Saxon parts of Britain late in the sixth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The two writing systems did not only represent two different systems, but also two different languages. The Roman alphabet would represent Latin, and the runes would represent Old English (Graddol 2002:48). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The runes are connected to mysticism and magic, but to the Anglo-Saxons they were simply a writing system. Even though the word ‘rune’ could mean ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’, and some inscriptions were thought to have magical powers, according to Barber, Beal, and Shaw (2009:113), they were used interchangeably with the Roman alphabet, even in Christian literacy as well. Documents can be found with a Latin main text, a translation in Old English, and then lastly a translation into runes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The English version of the runic alphabet contained almost doubly as many characters as its Scandinavian equivalent. Page (2003:4) confirms that the Anglo-Saxons used runes before the Roman alphabet took over.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The shape of the runes made them ideal to use on inscriptions in stone and wood. Wood is a material that does not endure time as well as for example stone would, and this is most likely the reason why so few runic inscriptions from the Anglo-Saxon period survive to this day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Some Anglo-Saxon relics and remains have runic inscriptions on them, and these reflect dialectic differences and variations, as Graddol (1996:46) points out. The longest surviving inscription is on the Ruthwell Cross, a massive stone cross from the Scottish borderland. Its inscription dates from 700 AD and is in both Latin and Old English. The inscription is an Anglo-Saxon poem known as ‘The Dream of the Rood’. This specific inscription represents one of the very few longer runic inscriptions from this period (Kelly 1998:36).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.2.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Taking over the Roman alphabet: text production in Latin and English<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">There are no surviving written records of the Anglo-Saxons until after their conversion to Christianity. This introduced them to the Roman alphabet, making it possible to write considerable texts, Barber, Beal, and Shaw (2009:112) say. However, when using scribe methods, ink and parchment or vellum for example, the runes could be, and would be applied for longer texts. Writing was a process normally handled by the clerics, and the Christian content was at the base of the written evidence (Barber, Beal, and Shaw 2009:112).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>David Graddol (1996:50) describes the process of book production in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was a task that fell to both nuns and monks, where they worked as scribes in their respective monasteries. Becoming a nun was most likely one of very few ways for a woman to seek out literacy in this time. Women of a higher social standing were in a position to be taught to read and write, but this was the exception rather than the rule. Not even kings needed to know how to read and write according to Clanchy (2003:8). They would surround themselves with learned members of society, and writing would be provided if needed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Latin represented power and the church. Yet, despite this, Latin documents gradually made way for Old English because of the use of the vernacular, as seen by the ruling elite.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the late eighth century Viking raiders began to attack the monasteries throughout England, destroying existing religious literature and reducing the continuation of text production. The scholar traditions were no longer exclusively maintained in a religious setting, and moved closer to population centres. As a result, the use of Latin was reduced because of the Viking influx, and this may have aided the development of Old English literacy (Amodio 2014:24:25). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">One of the most important duties in monasteries was book production and copying of texts. The process of making sheets of parchment into a leather bound book was complicated and time-consuming, and it involved a considerable number of people in different, and specialised positions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">The concept of copying books and manuscripts in Anglo-Saxon monasteries is far removed from our twenty first century concept of copying. Today we would take it as read that perfect similes would be produced. Copyright laws, which began to be put into statute from the late 17<sup>th</sup>century, now create legal repercussions for any unregulated or erroneous duplications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In the Anglo-Saxon period, a patron would commission an author, possibly in the form of a King or nobleman. This patron would pay the author a set sum to complete the work. The author would then have no further claim to ownership of the text. Copies would be made to order. More beautiful and elaborate versions could be created but would incur a higher fee. The produced document would be unique, made directly to the customer’s specification or to fit their price range.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Work produced at monasteries, the most exemplary examples being those from the monastery at Lindisfarne in the north-east of England, would include the transcriber’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">colophons</i>or ‘footnotes’. In these, the copier would both identify themselves and communicate directly to the reader. A result of this division of labour was that notable and important changes to each exclusive copy are apparent, causing the text to alter significantly over the years with each newly commissioned piece of work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">It would often be the case that originals of the text were unavailable so copies would have to be made of copies. Because of this, it is a complicated process to determine the original text. Each piece of work would be presented as a perfect, often leather bound, luxurious edition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">It was not until sometime after this paper’s time period that the fledgling universities created what is called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pecia system</i>. A student, for example, would lend a part of a text, copy it down, then take the ‘original’ back in an unaltered state. This way the copies came from the same source. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Anglo-Saxon England as a literate society<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">The noun ‘literacy’ is formed from the Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">litera</i>, meaning ‘letter’, or ‘being lettered’. It means the quality or state of being literate. In its literate meaning it is pointing to the ability to read and write. Metaphorically, in a contemporary understanding, it is also pointing to being in possession of knowledge, in a separate field, or knowledge in general. Clanchy (2003:8) argues that ‘Literacy has become the shibboleth of modern societies because the individual demonstrates through it his acceptance of, and success in, the industrialised schooling process.’ The modern society has long since accepted that literacy, meaning knowledge, is probably the deepest foundation of modern development. With this perspective it is not fair to compare literacy between now and older cultures. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the Anglo-Saxon period, reading and writing was not just about being able to produce or make use of literature, it was as much a question of power. The people who were literate were mostly connected to the church or the monasteries. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Clanchy (2003:7) says, as mentioned above, that literacy today can be viewed as a technology, further that it is not the defining force behind a civilised society. Today there is a clear link between literacy and how to be a part of, and climb socially in, the society. However, in the Anglo-Saxon period, the most substantial parts of the populations, those who did not rule or go to war, would not stop ploughing the fields or feeding their families just because they did not know how to read or write. They would be bound to one place where traditions and deeply anchored customs governed their lives far more than the potentially unstable government. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To be literate means, in a very general understanding, to be able to read and write. But literacy embodies something more. A literate society is a society that makes use of reading and writing in all parts of its structure, it is likely to assume that it is the foundation of any modern, democratic social grouping. According to Clanchy (2003:8), the degree if literacy is today a measure of success. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the Anglo-Saxon period to be literate was to be able to read and write Latin. But the majority, who were in a position to learn, only learned how to speak Latin. As Clanchy (2003:8) said, people in power did not need to be literate. They would sign a document with a cross, as the cross was representing something holy and unbreakable, making the documents legitimate. The cross was a symbol of Christian truth, and it was not until after the Reformation that the cross became a symbol of illiteracy when used as a signature (Clanchy 2003:8).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Anglo-Saxon England was in a special position because it had an official and a vernacular language. The official Language was Latin. And with Alfred the many texts would be made available in the vernacular (see section 4.4.). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>According to Parkes (1973:555), there were three types of literacy in the Anglo-Saxon period, the professional, the cultivated and the pragmatic. Below all of these types will be discussed in turn. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The professional reader was a man of letters (Parkes 1973:555). In the early days of the Anglo-Saxon period, the professional reader was a man who was connected to the monasteries. This changed, as discussed above, with time, and Viking invasions. The professional reader could be found in other parts of the society, connected to for example the kingly courts, or in other legal capacities (Parkes 1973:555). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The cultivated readers were the ones connected to recreation. It is in this classification the poets are found. And it is in recreational reading the great epic poems emerge, such as for example Beowulf (Parkes 1973:555). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The pragmatic reader is he who read and writes in the course of business (Parkes 1973:555)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.1.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Religious literacy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Throughout the Middle Ages literacy was closely connected to the religious institutions. According to Amodio (2014:16) there is not much evidence, if any, to indicate that any but ecclesiasts and their students had access to the technology of literacy. In time the educated parts of the population would include members of the laity as well as the clerical class. As mentioned before, scribes and clerics would familiarise themselves with other writing systems, such as runes. They would educate themselves in contemporary, secular writings such as poems and romances. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The literacy evolution, not just in England, but in Europe as well, shared a defining fact: Most of the writing was handled by this certain group of religiously trained scribes and clerics, in the form of monks and priests. It is obvious that they had an agenda spreading the word of the Gospel (Barber, Beal, and Shaw 2009:112).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It was possible to speak and understand Latin without being able to write it. Clanchy (1993:186) talks about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">literatus</i>. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">literatus</i> could read and write Latin, for example a priest. But a person would not be considered <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">literatus</i> if he only knew how to read and write Old English, then he would be considered <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">illiteratus</i>. However, Clanchy (1993:186) says that ‘to be literatus meant to know Latin and not specifically to have the ability to read and write’, which can be confusing. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Literatus</i> is Latin for literate, and to be literate would indicate having the ability to read and write. So the discussion is concerning Latin, to learn the language by ear was not the same as being able to read and write it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.2.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Pragmatic literacy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Pragmatic literacy is one of the classifications of the different types of literacy in the Anglo-Saxon period, a classification made from a modern perspective. As briefly mentioned above, Parkes (1973:555) argues that literacy could be divided into three different groups: the professional reader, the cultivated reader, and the pragmatic reader. To find evidence for pragmatic literacy has not been the easiest of tasks Parkes (1973:558) says, but by the time the Normans invaded, the pragmatic literacy was increasing in the literate society. The general reader starts with the birth of the pragmatic reader. Even though the general reader will not become a reality until the thirteenth century (Parkes 1973:572), it started when humans realised that reading and writing could have another purpose than just to preach the word of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Reading and writing was not available to everyone, as this paper has shown. But with various reforms, such as the one King Alfred implemented (see section 4.4.), Anglo-Saxon England saw the advent of a better-educated clergy, according to Parkes (1973:555).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In a European perspective, the largest collection of pragmatic records survives in England; this shows the start of a rising legal profession (Parkes 1973:558). In the legal profession there was an early need to document by writing, agreements and terms. Necessity here produced a profession outside of the church. And when the monasteries on the east coast were ransacked and destroyed, the scribes would venture into other spaces in society where their talents were of use. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">When discussing literacy in Anglo-Saxon England it is impossible not to mention charters, writs and wills, as they make up most of the remaining documentation from the period. Clanchy (1993:85) describes charters as public letters issued by a donor. They can refer to property, for example, and are serving as a kind of open testimonial. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The surviving wills is another element to add to the pragmatic literacy. The wills could have been penned by anyone from a Kentish reeve from around 840, to kings (Alfred and Eadred), to queens, to various men of literacy wanting to make sure their wishes are obeyed in the events of theirs passing. Kelly (1998:48) says that the society, as well as the single individual, gradually acknowledged and recognised the value of recording this kind of information. And this was a pivotal step towards the ‘general reader’, as Parkes (1973:572) mentioned. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>A writ was, according to Clanchy (1993:67) a standardised command issued by a legal administration to automate and depersonalise the legal process; To justify the ways of God to men. A writ could be sealed, and eventually this caused the royal seal to have the same power as what was written on the inside, maybe even higher. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>A charter is a legal document providing proof of ownership, for example concerning land. The document would only be significant in the beginning of the process. Once the deal had been made, the written charter was no longer as important (Parkes 1973:558). Kelly (1998:43) says about the Anglo-Saxon charter that it is reflecting the church’s wish to have proof, in addition to someone’s word. But a written document in a mostly illiterate society could represent conflicts. This lead to a compromise: a charter was valid with recognition of the written word by the laity, a group of people agreeing orally to what was written in the document. Some of the documents were written in two stages where the list of witnesses was added afterwards (Kelly 1998:44).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We can account for less than 2000 charters and writs from the Anglo-Saxon period, and many of these are copies of originals that have been lost in. But they are the best way of keeping account of literacy in this period as they were widely distributed. With only less than 2000 charters and writs surviving, it is easy to assume that a substantial amount was lost, and also that this time was a more literate society than one might have thought. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The most accessible proof of Anglo-Saxon literacy, a proof of their interaction with the written word, is the Latin land-charter, and other vernacular documents concerning land and property (Kelly 1998:39). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It has been a challenging process determining the authenticity of the various documents that survives from the Anglo-Saxon period. One point that could decide whether or not a document, or a charter, was authentic, was if it was written in Old English. The Latin texts had often been altered or falsified completely, Kelly (1998:39) says. The charters that did survive are evidence of how the Anglo-Saxon society gradually acquired the ecclesiastical writing skills in pragmatic writing (Kelly 1998:40).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.3.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Cultivated literacy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Literature is something we can understand and relate to on a daily basis today, as it is a fairly modern concept. The kinds of literature produced were in many ways different from today. Literature as art is a modern concept. Poetry and stories often had an underlying purpose of validating power and the church, Allan (2008:1) argues.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The oral traditions in poetry in the early medieval times are present in the written poetry in terms of style and presentation. The stories of heroic poetry from the Old Norse tradition can also be found in the Anglo-Saxon poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The cultivated laity relied on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scop</i> (‘poet’) to read out the vernacular recreational literature. A professional ‘singer’ transmitted this orally, and according to Parkes (1973:556) the ‘singers’ were probably illiterate. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Anglo-Saxon England’s relation to recreational literature was complicated. Monks would take an interest in poetry and make poetic records for their libraries. Manuscripts such as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Exeter Book of Old English Poetry</i> survived in monastic libraries (Parkes 1973:556). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In Anglo-Norman times the nobility served as inspiration when it came to reading and what was read. People of lower classes tried to make use of recreational literature as their betters. This is a practice that started in the Anglo-Saxon period with reading for other reasons than praising God and proving ownership (Parkes 1973:557).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.4.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">King Alfred’s campaign and its significance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">King Alfred the Great (849-899 AD) was probably the most important force behind the vernacular development in Anglo-Saxon England. Because of him the country experienced relative military and political stability, though he never really stopped fighting. But along with the famous burning of cakes, and the defeating of the Danes, his focus on Old English literacy in his time makes him a pillar of society. Culture and literature will flourish in times of political stability. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In his mission to spread the vernacular in England, Alfred invited scholars from abroad to help revive learning in his country. King Alfred is supposed to be behind translations of religious and philosophical texts. It is likely that he has been given a more heroic status than he actually had, or that reflects what he actually did. But he focused on a stronger Old English, and in doing so he also opened the way for scholars in the vernacular. He normalised the language that up until Alfred had been viewed, in literacy connections, as less important. And when a person in power puts a political focus on a matter such as literacy in the vernacular, then it will be both noticed and inspiring. Historians agree that he definitely made some of the translations himself (Amodio 2014:25-26, and 35-36). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>King Alfred said, in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preface</i> to the Translation of Gregory’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pastoral Care,</i> that:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">…So complete was learning’s decay among the English people that there were very few this side of the Humber that could understand their services in English, or even translate a letter from Latin into English; … Therefore it seems better to me, if it seems so to you, that we also should translate certain books which are most necessary for all men to know into the language that we can all understand, and also arrange it, as with God’s help we very easily can if we have peace, so that all the young freeborn men now among the English people, who have the means to be able to devote themselves to it, may set to study for as long as they are of no other use, until the time they are able to read English writing well. … <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">(Cited from Treharne 2010: 15)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">From this it is possible to understand that is a Christian duty to pass on knowledge. All the books in the world have little value if no one can understand what they say, and this is a point to follow even today. The written word needs a reader; book and reader exist in a symbiotic relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Alfred also said that the churches in England had enormous collections of books, but after various invaders destroyed these collections, they fell into distant memory. But this comment is a strong indication that the numbers of documents that existed in the Anglo-Saxon period was a considerably larger number than the few documents that survived through time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>He was also concerned with all the books and texts that were only available to those who could read and write Latin. The fact that he wanted to make important texts available in the vernacular is what made him special in a time when knowledge was an element of power and control. He was looking to history, and to the bible and found passages that could support his thoughts on translations. In a historic perspective texts were first translated from Hebrew, to Greek, to Latin. There was no good reason for letting Latin be the final resting place for a text: it had to be translated into Old English as well. He knew many of his subjects could read Old English texts, and this was another strong indication that literature in Old English existed in far greater numbers than what remains today. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Discussion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Was Anglo-Saxon a literate society? When looking at literacy from a modern perspective, where reading and writing governs most people’s days, Anglo-Saxon England was not a literate society. Reading and writing was for some privileged few, and never really reached the ordinary man. The mentality towards it was also different from now. Today a person is an outsider if this person is illiterate, because knowledge is mostly acquired through reading. First a child learns how to read and write; then the child reads and writes to learn. Was this how the society as a whole developed, in terms of literacy? First it had to learn to master the literacy, and then apply it to new tasks in society? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>This paper has tried to show that Anglo-Saxon England indeed was a literate society, but within the boundaries of the contemporary educational system, if any, and with a deep connection to traditions and beliefs. The extent to which Anglo-Saxon England was literate increased throughout the period. To begin with it was a society with conflicting interests, both in terms of religion and in terms of who was leading the country. It was a society that had to withstand numerous invasions, and groups of settlers, from most of Northern Europe, Scandinavian and Germanic countries in particular. And in retrospect the invasions were not simply a subduing power that overtook the country and its people, it was a part of a cultural evolution, literacy fully incorporated in this evolutional process. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England started with the runes, and then missionaries introduced the Roman alphabet, and the merging of two writing systems made way for the Old English vernacular in a society where Latin texts made up the main parts of what survives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>This paper has discussed some of the important documents that has made any kind of analysis of the period possible, such as Bede’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ecclesiastical</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">History of the English People</i>, and some of the texts penned by King Alfred The Great, to mention a few. It has also looked at different types of literacy, as well as different types of documents that still are available. The stretch of time since the Anglo-Saxon period, and indeed the length of the period itself, makes it guesswork, as well as inconclusive, to piece together the information, making it possible to form an opinion. There were massive changes from the beginning of the period to the Norman invasion (that marks the end of Anglo-Saxon England), such changes that affected all parts of society, one of which was the end of the monastic period. The educated members of society that used to be placed in monasteries handling texts of Christian content, in Latin, would now be filling the more pragmatic parts of text production, handling and developing the everyday, pragmatic literacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the last part of this paper, the discussion entered into Alfred The Great’s campaign to increase literacy in England. Alfred could see how education would be useful to all free men, and that the texts that already existed in Latin needed to be translated into Old English, so that they would make sense to people untrained in the Latin language. For someone, even though he was a king, to claim that a vernacular text production is of great importance, actually made a massive difference, and probably sped up the process of making Anglo-Saxon England a literate society. And it was a contributing factor to the kind of literacy that already existed when the Normans invaded in 1066. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was much more than text production in the monasteries. Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was legal charters and writs, and wills; it was a growing appreciation for recreational texts, such as epic poems and mapping of historic events; it was a place to nurture an early feeling of nationality and identity through a unified language; literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was the starting point of one of literacy in one the most widespread languages in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bibliography<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Allen, Valerie. 2008. ‘Medieval English, 500-1500.’ In Paul Poplawski (ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">English Literature in Context</i>. 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From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307. 2<sup>nd</sup> edn. Oxford: Blackwell. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">first published 1979</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Cook, Vivian. 2004. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The English Writing System</i>. London: Arnold<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Crystal, David. 1996. In Graddol, David, Leith, Dick, and Swann, Joan (eds.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">English history, diversity and change</i>. London: Routledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Graddol, David and Boyd-Barrett Oliver. 1994. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Media Texts: Authors and Readers</i> Clevdon: The Open University<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Graddol, David, Cheshire, Jenny, and Swann, Joan.1995. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Describing Language.</i> Buckingham: Open University Press </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">first published 1994</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Graddol, David.1996. In Graddol, David, Leith, Dick, and Swann, Joan (eds.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">English history, diversity and change.</i>London: Routledge<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Susan Kelly. 1998. ‘Anglo-Saxon lay society and the written word.’ In McKitterick, Rosamund (ed.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Uses of Literacy in Early Mediaeval Europe.</i> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">first published in 1990</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Keynes, Simon. 1998. ‘Royal Government and the written word in late Anglo-Saxon England.’ In McKitterick, Rosamund (ed.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Uses of Literacy in Early Mediaeval Europe.</i> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">[first published in 1990]</span><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Page, R. I. 2003. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Introduction to English Runes.</i>London: The Boydell Press. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">first published 1973</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Parkes, Malcom. 1973. ‘The Literacy on the Laity’ in Daiches, David, and Thorlby, Anthony (eds) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mediaeval World</i>. London: Aldus Books<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Tolkien. J. R. R. 2014. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beowulf A Translation and Commentary</i>. 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Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Treharne, Elaine (ed.). 2010. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Old and Middle English c. 890 – c. 1450 an anthology.</i> Chichester: Blackwell Publishing. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">first published 2000</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: &quot;symbol&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-51880672936382311012015-12-22T06:59:00.000-08:002016-03-18T05:00:57.885-07:00The strange Bartleby<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">In this entry I will look at three passages from Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Mellville. I am trying to unpack the figurative language in the passages, and hopefully get a deeper understanding of the character that has intrigued critical literature since its inception in 1853. Although, some theories suggest that Mellville wrote this as a comment on his own situation as an author, as he was one of those who had to fight while alive, gaining a massive reputation post-mortem - I mean, who hasn't heard of Moby Dick? Melville struggled a bit at the time, and it was not until he inherited a bit of money that he could write full time. So the possibility that Bartleby the scrivener is a comment on his own life is definitely present. However, I will not look at this from that angle.</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Figurative language is how we relate to the world, and how we relate to literature. And this is the angle from which I will search for a deeper understanding of Bartleby the Scrivener.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;<b>Introduction<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The story is one with hardly any action. It mostly takes place in an office, and the lack of action is intriguing, and this kind of passiveness in the story adds suspense.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bartleby the Scrivener is about an elderly lawyer who owns an unambitious law-practice, in his own words, on Wall Street, New York. It was written in 1853, and the slowness of the time is reflected in the words. But we are in a rising capitalist society, and the need to make money is hovering in the back as a growing burden.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The Lawyer is employing law-copyists, or scriveners, to write copies, or written records, of his cases. These records were incredibly important, and to make sure each copy was the same, they had to not just write the copies, but check them after they have been written. The Lawyer has two scriveners Turkey and Nippers, and a young errand boy called Ginger Nut. And as his business gets busier he sees the need for another scrivener. It is in this capacity he encounters, and employs Bartleby. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bartleby stands out as a kind of a puzzle from the start; to begin with he is, somewhat surprisingly, hard working, and almost the epitome of a conscientious employee. But the moment he is asked to proofread his work; do something other than write; he refuses with a passive defensive <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘I prefer not to.’<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>I will mainly focus this short essay on the death-metaphor through the tropes related, and opposite to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘pale’</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘pallid’</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Bartleby is almost a phantom through the entire story. He hardly eats, and he tries to live on the margins of the people he has his own kind of interaction with.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘I can see it now – pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby.’</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB"> (Mellville, as cited by Roof. 2005:30)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Lawyer is accessing, and visualising his memories of Bartleby. He can see him in his mind, but it is also likely that ‘seeing’ is pointing to The Lawyer’s deeper understanding of The Scrivener. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bartleby is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Pallidly neat’</i>, and pallid can be a way of describing the actual colour of Bartleby’s skin, or the colours of his clothes. But it is functioning both at an actual and a metaphorical level, as his colourless spirit is as ‘loud’ as his pallid presence is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘dull’</i>. His actions are uninspired, and he seems lifeless. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Pallid’</i> is not only a metaphor for death, but it also points to a flaw in Bartleby’s mental health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Pairing ‘pallid’ with ‘neat, that can mean (among other things) nice, clean, elegant, smart or proper, Mellville is creating tension in his description of Bartleby with an unusual dichotomy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The Lawyer has compassion, empathy and sympathy for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘incurably forlorn’</i>character, and he recognises the ‘otherness’ in Bartleby. And it is through this feeble attempt of respectability that Bartleby’s tragic flaw is disclosed. Bartleby can no longer relate to, or function in the society he is trying to be a part of. He is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘forlorn’</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘lost’</i>, failing to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘fit in’</i> with the unspoken rules of society. Such rules act like language, that according to Nietzsche present <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘truth’</i> as metaphors that have been in the language for so long that any ambiguity is lost – as Bennett and Royle say (2009:81). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Or, is Bartleby simply a way for The Lawyer to explain a particularly dark side of himself, placing Bartleby in the corner of his subconscious mind, facing a brick wall?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘I remembered the bright silks and sparkling faces I had seen that day, in gala trim, swan-like sailing down the Mississippi of Broadway; and I contrasted them with the pallid copyist, and thought to myself, Ah happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery is none.’</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB"> (Mellville. 2005: 37)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">When I first read this I absolutely fell in love with the use of language, and how he paints a picture. What I saw was groups of people, dressed in gala-outfits, happily gliding like swans down the river-like Broadway is a deep contrast to the colourless, pale, quiet, and lonely Bartleby. They are both equally distanced from life and the real, but the reverse anthropomorphism makes the happy human group seem like swans gliding down the concrete river. The thing is, not a single place in this passage does he mention the word 'people'. I just assumed. And that is how figurative language works. It places us in a recognisable environment, even if it is an out of the ordinary colloquialism. In fact, a language without recognisability will make no sense. We need figures and tropes to maneuver in the world. And this is what Nietzsche talked about, I think, that we relate to the world through what we recognise.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Broadway can be more than just the street in New York; it can be the opposite of the narrow road, or the path less travelled. Broadway will then be the road the majority of people choose, and this is again pointing to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘otherness’</i> of Bartleby, as he is not likely to ‘skip’ down Broadway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;This is also in a time before the 'limelight' of Broadway. The novel was written in 1853, musicals came later. Even though, the street has always been a place for people to gather, and it was, as it still is, a place where money talked, and people would dress up nicely to show off, then as now.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Happiness courts the light’</i>suggests that darkness, as the opposite of light, will be courted by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘sadness’.</i> Bartleby’s mental state is stuck in the darkness. ‘Misery is none’, Bartleby is slowly erasing his reasons to BE. He puts on a mask of humanity, but eventually it falls off. The language in this passage is de-familiarising Bartleby from the rest of the world. He is an outsider. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bright, sparkling, close, happy, light, paired with misery, hiding, pale (pallid), distanced and nothingness are powerful out of the ordinary contradictions or opposites in this passage. They are almost deconstructed colloquialisms. The fact that the opposites are not the normal colloquialisms we relate to, when making a linguistic point, portrait them as quite scary, fractured and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘uncanny’</i>, strengthening the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘otherness’</i> of the Bartleby character. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Mellville places Bartleby on the margins of an early capitalist society; making use of contradictions and opposites maintains Bartleby’s marginalisation. The Lawyer visits his memories to support his current thoughts on Bartleby’s otherness. Memories can change, and every time a memory is ‘remembered’ what you remember is the last time it was accessed, meaning that contradictions can grow over time, eventually overshadowing what really happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>All of his colleagues have nicknames and in this way they are immediately familiarised to the reader. Bartleby is even more marginalised and further distanced with being referred to only by his surname, but this is Bartleby’s own choice, as it is the only name he disclosed. It is clear there is no warm relationship when he is only addressed by his last name. However, the name presents a contradiction as well, because the Lawyer feels an unexplained kind of compassion, or pity, towards Bartleby. This makes Bartleby a pairing of contradictions by just being present in the story. He is hard working, but he refuses to work, he is a part of the team, but follows his own code, he is present, but he is ‘gone’, he is polite, but he is rude, he is alive, but he is dead. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘On errands of life, these letters speed to death. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB">’ (Mellville. 2005:52)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Rather than having Bartleby removed from his office by force, when he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘prefers not to go’</i>, The Lawyer decides, in what can be described as a comic twist, to move office. Bartleby stays put, and this is his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘one way ticket’</i> to prison. The prison is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘The Tombs’</i>, a name that is a direct reference to silence and death, as it is another name for grave.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Even though Bartleby seems lucid in his choices, for example not to eat when in prison, it is likely that he is in the final stages of untreated clinical depression. The consequence of his choice is starvation, and finally he is absolved from the burdens of life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The Lawyer sinks back into memory wondering whether Bartleby’s previous job as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘reader’</i> in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Dead Letter Office’</i> had something to do with his apathy against life. Through these memories, The Lawyer addresses his mortality, as well as Bartleby’s. He is speeding to his death; probably realising he forgot to live. He has avoided conflict his entire life, and Bartleby’s passive resistance baffled him from the first ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I prefer not to’</i> to the last. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The dead letters sounded like the echoes of men, and that is what Bartleby probably realised they were. When working in ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dead Letter Office’</i>, he witnessed the destruction of the important written word; he witnessed people hanging on to the dead’s treasures. His colleagues would steal a ring, or a cheque, and then they would auction off the rest. The dead letters were stories never told, lives never lived, and it shattered Bartleby, as it shattered The Lawyer thinking about it. Also it points to the fact that this is an untold story in Bartleby’s life, as The Lawyer is simply guessing at this point. But he realises that they both ended up on a journey speeding them to the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Considering ‘The humanity’, The Lawyer is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘incurably forlorn, pitiably respectable, and pallidly neat’</i>, continuing his life hiding behind his life lie. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">To sum up<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bartleby’s pale and distanced presence, even when he is not present, his passive resistance, and his darkened mind, makes him an ambivalent character. His colourless look on life, and his will to fight for this pallid existence, refusing all offers of help, is fascinating. Is he the antagonist? Is he the protagonist? Is he a part of the protagonist’s mind? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">With the language, Melville is creating a character that forces the reader to interact. He does this mixing the known and the unknown. 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Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bartleby is hardly saying a word throughout the entire short story, and he is fighting to stay in his gloomy state. I claim he's a philosopher, and I believe he is in terms of making other people think. His passive resistance is making The Lawyer think about why he is resisting. The Lawyer is thinking about why Bartleby is resisting change so hard. The Lawyer is puzzled at his own reaction to this resistance. Bartleby is a kind of a wake up call to The Lawyer. And what he wakes up to is not really optimistic for his future. This is, of course, only speculations, but the thoughts set in motion by Bartleby are fundamentally devastating.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I also call him an anti-capitalist soldier, and the connotations to soldier mostly involve violence. But it could also be a link to soldiers on the peace side of the equation. The Salvation Army are called soldiers and they do not fight with weapons, but with words. Bartleby is fighting to remain the same. He might not be well enough to make that decision, but that does not mean he is not going to fight for it. In doing so he becomes a soldier. So Bartleby is everything from philosopher, where he makes people think with his almost non-verbal communication, to anti-capitalist soldier, and maybe he actually was just a figure of speech, a metaphor for protest and individuality in an increasingly uniform society?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sources:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bennett, Andrew, and Royle, Nicholas. 2009. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Literature, Criticism and Theory</i>. Harlow. 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UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Mellville, Herman. 2005. ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Understanding Fiction</i>. Judith Roof (ed.) Boston. Houghington Mifflin. Print<o:p></o:p></span></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-2432592569855546072015-10-06T09:18:00.001-07:002016-03-18T05:01:09.375-07:00Steven WilsonWhat do you get when you put Steven Wilson and his world class musicians on one of the biggest musical stages of the world?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Last week I went to London with my Significant Other. Our goal for this trip was to end up in Royal Albert Hall to see and hear Steven Wilson in action. You find yourself sitting in the big round historical building, and thinking, well, that was it, I'm here...but then the music starts, and you forget time and place. I am proud to say that I have been in musical heaven, a heaven where the visual plays just as big a part of the whole picture as the audio does.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Steven Wilson can go on stage and play whatever he wants, and I will be at the tip of my chair, drawn into his sometimes quite dark world. But it is not a world without hope. His latest album, Hand. Cannot. Erase. made most of the Monday night's concert, and it was raw musical power, presented by this humble human standing barefoot on stage. The song that moved me most from the first night was Routine. I was completely blown away by the hard to watch video running in the back, and the amazing voice of Ninet Tayeb, in divine union with the band. It was like entering another universe, where only music and images existed. At that moment it didn't matter where we were, as the scene disappeared, and all that was, was the story. How can a song feel cathartic? I don't know how Steven Wilson did it, but he did. I felt cleansed after Routine, born again...if that makes sense at all?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I have heard a lot of people saying they love Steven Wilson, but they miss Porcupine Tree... I cannot agree with them. I feel that him being in charge of all the creative decisions have brought out the truly magnificent musician that he is. And being who he is, he can work with the best of the best. When I go to concerts, I speak of trust...weird, I know. But I have trust the musicians to be able to play their instruments, to be able to sing, and to be able to give me an as strong experience as the albums do. And you would think that this went without saying, but it doesn't always in this age of auto tune and cheating... But there is nothing fake about the talents of Steven Wilson. His voice is even, from what I can hear, getting better and better. And it was a pleasure to see him playing my favourite part on Drive Home, and the solo on Dark Matter. He is what I would call a whole musician. He doesn't just make music, he is music. And I trusted both him and his band completely.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He doesn't always make easy to listen music, and that is ok. I don't think music should be easy accessible all the time. The music you have to work on to understand ends up being the music that stays with you for a life time. I didn't understand Watchmaker to begin with, but now it is one of my favourite songs of his. And what they did with it in Royal Albert Hall was just beyond anything I have ever seen. They rolled down a see through screen, so that we could still see them (the musicians), but on the screen they showed a horror movie. I felt like entering into a gothic novel where the monster is hunting us down sublime mountains... and just when you really can't read another word, because it has scared you to your core, you still read on.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I am so happy to have been in Royal Albert Hall for both nights, even the songs I didn't know too well made an impression. Grace for Drowning is a difficult album, but as I said earlier, difficult is good. It means you have to make an effort, it isn't digested before it reaches you, it means that the artist trusts his fans to be intelligent enough to make that effort. Though, I must admit I had to look away for the last part of Raider II. It was 'the Beast' as he referred to it, and I see that now. <br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Steven Wilson said he was humbled to be on the Royal Albert Hall stage, and I can understand his feelings. But what he should never doubt is that he belongs in this hall of legends.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I am sure all the great musicians through the ages were sitting on the circle barrier, dangling their feet, with shimmering wings moving softly to the rhythm, and rejoicing in the genius music of this humble man. May he create a lot of music still, and many more shows, and may I be lucky enough to be in the audience again.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;So what do you get when you put Steven Wilson and his world class musicians on one of the biggest musical stages of the world?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;You get a sublime experience earthly words cannot describe. The soul transcends to a higher plane of existence, and for those two days it might see a glimmer of a higher truth only the real legislators of the world can convey...Steven Wilson, you amaze me.Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-39816364931824005192015-08-09T18:05:00.003-07:002016-03-05T04:05:09.141-08:00For my amazing man<br /><div class="text_exposed_show" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><br /><div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Sonnets for my loved one on his birthday x</b></span></div><div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="color: #141823; display: block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Discussing pasta whilst in hot embrace</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>The beautiful game makes your whole face glow</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Athletic strength drives you on, sparks your grace</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Not everyone knows how hard you can throw</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Ancient scent hidden in memories past<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />Words painting pictures of Rome invading<br />Touching sacred stones, hours go so fast<br />History hums, a song for everything<br />Virtues were hidden for years in deep fear<br />Invisible eyes reaching out to see<br />Asking in silence to come find you here<br />Searching blindly, but your eyes they saw me<br />All that you are amaze me every day<br />The yellow brick road is our magic way</span></b></span></div><b><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Rainy, windy, summer grey enclosing</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>The summers lived are never here to stay</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>It is not the distant warmth we're praising</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>I do compare thee to my beating heart</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>You sing the soft song that will make me whole</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>I do compare thee to my missing part</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>From your voice I heart the song of my soul</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>In the dark you hold the light to guide me</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>The strong shield between nightmare and the real</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>You see me as I hope that I can be</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>I'm feeling more than I could ever feel</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>When I'm with you it's summer all year round</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b>Summer, music, deep strong love, healing sound.&nbsp;</b></span></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-35441861653229732952015-05-13T10:41:00.002-07:002015-08-09T18:06:41.641-07:00The Tenth Muse, publishing a modern fantasyA while back, my debut novel was published. It is a modern fantasy about the classical old story, good vs. evil.<br />Michael Smith feels the world is completely wrong, and his strange dreams take him to Santorini where his adventures start.<br />He is fighting for the existence of creativity...at a great cost.<br /><br />Publishing a novel in this time and age can seem close to impossible. And to be successful, you have to be determined and have so much patience you qualify to sainthood by the time you get your book in a consultant's hands. The most normal thing is getting a polite rejection.<br />I was connected to one of the biggest publishing houses in Norway for a long, long time, sending them scripts, getting them back with suggestions of what to change. But in Norway, the biggest deal are murder mysteries, and I write fantasy, so I kind of fell through (this is the story I tell myself to feel better, at least.).<br />In the end they told me that fantasy weren't really their thing, and I should look for representation elsewhere. I had learned a lot about the business, but not nearly enough, and I still was unrepresented. So, I felt quite lost. They had kept me on a lose leash for years and years, vague promises about a possible future release if this or that, and I believed them. I could have spent my time reaching out to agents, or other publishing houses, but I remained loyal.<br />My brother told me to look around for other alternatives, but the woman in charge of the writer's course I took, said I had to be loyal to one publishing house at the time. Both made sense, and both very difficult to follow.<br /><br />What happened was that I just kept writing and writing. I never felt what other authors talk about, that dreaded writer's block, I still haven't met that phenomenon, but I have felt frustrated for having a million ideas, that I actually follow from beginning to finished story, and no one to share it with.<br /><br />And when I tried sending them to publishing houses, no one wants them, because they weren't represented by an agent. So I felt lost in a spiral of creativity and no chances. Most publishing houses wants the scripts to be represented by agents, and that means another person, along with the publisher, takes a piece of the cake. Obviously, people have to be paid for doing a job, but as a struggling author, you feel it's an unfair business when you're out in the cold. But there is a solution... and it is what I did :)<br /><br />Then, I guess I got lucky. One of my best friends live in Holland, and she said, I know this guy who is starting up a publishing house, do you want me to ask him if he wants your script? I said yes, of course, and waited his reply.<br />He wanted to have a look at my script about Michael Smith and his journey with the muses. I was seriously nervous, I sent him the original document, and in hindsight I might have been a bit naive doing that to someone I didn't really know or knew if I could trust. But I did, and it turned out that he, Rob, my editor, was for real.<br />He suggested a few changes, and if I managed to write in those changes then I would have a deal.<br />OMG, I was going to publish my debut novel.<br />Then suddenly I was on the inside, with a contract I only could have dreamed of. I have had to learn this with my publisher, as they are new to this as well, but we are getting there.<br />I am a fiery person, and sometimes I'm probably not the easiest client to deal with, but they can, and they do. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for putting up with me, and most important of all, believing in me when no one else did. I won't let you down. And I won't let me down!<br /><br />If you like fantasy, if you like Shakespeare, England, adventure and dragons, then this is the book you should buy for your summer holiday. :)<br />And if you have a novel in you, contact Bullseye, they might be the ones to help you further on your way to reaching your goals.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/">http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bullseye-publishing/223740621106839?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bullseye-publishing/223740621106839?fref=ts</a>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-10092543231957766052015-04-22T15:10:00.003-07:002015-08-09T18:06:58.070-07:00Marbles A couple of weeks ago I was in the lovely (it actually is a nice little city) Wolverhampton to attend the second of two Marillion weekends this year.<br />I must admit that I thought nothing could top what I was a part of in Holland, but as usual Marillion proves me wrong time and again. The Friday night was amazing, and my favourite song, This Strange Engine, was breathtaking. And the Sunday night, when we chose to stay in the back with our somewhat taller friends, we ended up having a blast. The Civic is smaller than the tent in PZ (Holland), so we had a decent view. Minds and hearts buzzing from<br />Now, my partner and I had high hopes for Saturday night, as we missed the first part of this particular concert in Holland, stuck behind all the tall Dutch people...they sure are tall...And after this rather disappointing Marbles night, we were really looking forward to the UK one. We went early, and stood at the front. We had the option of getting seats, and I'm pretty sure my heels would have loved that, but my mind decided that my eyes likes to see the expression in the band's faces when they perform, so we let pain be pain, and prepared for sounds and the magnificent lights, and the out of this world music.<br /><br />The Invisible Man was not just the first song on Marbles, and also on the concert, it was so much more. I have never heard or seen that piece of music been performed to perfection like that before. It was like being in a Shakespearean Theatre watching a play. And it was perfection in a way where strong emotions and musical brilliance danced an exotic dance.<br />I love Marbles, the entire album. I love every single song, even the ones that many think a bit odd. I love the fact that it's based on Peter Pan, I love the fact that it plays with words and chords, I love the fact that it holds duality, complexity, simplicity, it's possible to interpret on high academic levels (and I have...and will continue to), and I love that I was there with the love of my soul enjoying it.<br />For me, however, The Only Unforgivable Thing was the song I really looked forward to.<br /><br />And then it started, the song I had waited for...probably being all weird and strange for having waited for that, and not The Invisible Man, or Fantastic Place, or even Neverland.<br />But this song is something else. It resonates on a deeper level with me, and it has since the first time I ever heard it.<br />The man I love held his strong arms around me most of the concert, and being there with him was such an honour. He's warm when I am cold, and cool when I freak out, and reads me better than anyone ever did. He just wouldn't let go when the song came...and I'm glad he didn't, I think I would have fallen if he did.<br />At first I was just looking at the band, singing along, feeling the normal Marillion magic...but then something took over, and I shut up, and suddenly it was only me and the band there. I could still feel the strong arms around me, but I seriously spaced out...on music. I could feel I almost stopped breathing, but I was, and along with the air, what filled my body was the etheric notes and words of this sapphire of a song.<br />I had conflicting emotions within. This is music that should be taken to all corners of the world, to heal all that is broken, inspire world leaders to do better. But then again, it's music that should be (and is) only mine, as it is so personal (People who have read Leo's book about fans will know exactly how personal), Marillion's music is my precious.<br />I wasn't singing along anymore, I couldn't. It wasn't just a song to which I knew the words and could sing along...it was a whisper that echoed through time, it was power, it was amazing.<br />I then, still alone with the band, I felt deeper thoughts beginning to rush through my mind, thoughts of how I was part of something that was on the outside of life's mundane and generic routine. How I felt blessed with senses able to perceive these high emotions...and when the song came to its end, my tears were running, but not because I was sad. They were running because I was happy. And that happiness just kept going long after the song ended. In moments like that I feel I'm reaching out of society's thoughts of reality, I feel I'm reaching out and touching an eternity with answers and truths; truths only visible through the magic of music...<br />I was there for the rest of the concert, but sometimes the mind has enough, and for me this was it x<br /><br />Thank you, Marillion, for gracing the world with your fantasy music. It truly is epic and mind blowing. My life is richer from your inspiration and musical journeys. It is an absolute honour to be at your concerts.<br />xxx<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WHVHlT6rL8E/VTgb_lglVKI/AAAAAAAAAao/vpXeye3zNmA/s1600/received_10153310196608383.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WHVHlT6rL8E/VTgb_lglVKI/AAAAAAAAAao/vpXeye3zNmA/s1600/received_10153310196608383.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />I am adding here a little paragraph from my book, The Tenth Muse, where The Only Unforgivable Thing is described through the ears of a person who has been blinded and captured by the evil forces...<br />I think this song has an amazing duality and it is almost a novel in its complexity, and almost naive in its simplicity...<br /><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">"A soft sound started almost like a whisper, it came from the room, and it came from everywhere, it came from him, and it came from her. It was a beautiful sound that just kept on filling her soul, her mind and her entire being. She knew that was what she had been looking for in all the shops and all the people she had met in the past. This feeling of just being and listening and escaping. She felt she could let go of all the fear that had surrounded her lately. The sound was mesmerizing. And then came something that sounded like a heartbeat. She could feel it pound in her body like a strange engine. Was it her heart? Could her heart possibly sound on the outside of her body like this, as if it was coming from the universe itself? No, this was something bigger, but her heart found the same rhythm. The beating heart was mixing together with the beautiful sound from before. And for a blissful moment that lasted forever, she could feel her broken body start to fight for life. Two more elements sounded in the room, and their sound echoed everywhere, and each one of them made perfect sense. It was like a happy marriage of sounds. One sharper, stringy sound, resonating in her mind as a dichotomy to the heartbeat, making her want to open her eyes and see what could possibly produce the sounds that were making her ears and her soul feel more alive than ever before. Seconds later she heard a similar sound. Only this sound was deeper, as a mix of the heartbeat and the sharp stringy sound. She could feel that every single thing she heard right now just had to be there to make the other sounds make complete sense. And she could feel they were building up to something. Something that filled her with the most blissful anticipation she had ever felt, and yet she was nervous, because she knew it would change her. She knew that what was coming would heal her, that she would get her life back, and that she would find a truth not many people had yet. And there it was, a voice. It was soft and sharp, deep and high…It was the voice of the earth and sky, it was the voice of light. It could shake the foundations of the highest mountain, and it could bend the biggest trees like the forces from a storm. It was the voice that knew all the secrets, and at the same time it explored all the wonders of the world, searching for answers to new riddles, new questions that hadn’t even been asked yet. The words he sang reached inwards in her broken body and made the evil evaporate into his oblivion. Whatever he decided became the truth, and she would never ever doubt that fact for as long as she lived. " *</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Read more here:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/">http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/</a></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">* The Tenth Muse, Silje Haarr, published by Bullseye Publishing 2014.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Thank you to Phil Slessor, the amazing photographer, for finding an image from The Only Unforgivable Thing on Saturday in Wolverhampton.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #00000a; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></span><!--EndFragment-->Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-26162329460088410772015-03-24T08:32:00.001-07:002015-03-26T17:39:21.672-07:00Marillion Weekend in Port Zelande, 2015<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Marillion weekend in Port Zelande, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">How in the world do you put in words the feelings a weekend of so much more than normal rock concerts set in motion? It is a close to impossible task. Sitting at Schiphol airport with Marbles on my ears, I have a caramel frappe (a Dutch creative version of my name on the glass), and five hours to kill, so I might as well give it a go. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Marillion have followed me through many hard times during the last year and a half, so to come to Port Zelande with a smile in my suitcase, my heart on my sleeve, and my soul’s twin holding his arms around me, was just amazing; I was pretty excited to experience the dense emotional dance the weekend is said to be. In hindsight, I understand now, and feel completely in awe, both over the people making the whole arrangement possible, and over Marillion who clearly and without a doubt seem to enjoy themselves so much. Amazing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">So there we were, in chalet 738, the cake chalet; we made the beds, said a quick hello and had a quick beer in the chalet, before we were off. We had 17,5 tokens in our pockets; the first night could begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">For a non-Marillion fan, it might be hard to understand the dynamics within a group like this. We are like a big family. But I got a strange image in my head whenever we walked from our chalets to the gig tent, that we were like zombies, or like aliens being called home to the mother ship…when 3000 people move in the same direction, almost at the same time (apart from the hard core fans who queue up for hours in the freezing March air, obviously), it might look a bit religious…but honestly, I don’t care.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">For us it really is like being called home. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We made sure we were there for Steven Rothery and his instrumental support act to the main event. He even spoke up, and that was very nice to both see and hear. He should do that more often in Marillion as well. I am not particularly a guitar connesseur, but even I get that it’s good stuff, and I really enjoyed listening to the floating, swaying, almost dreaming music that let the mind wander. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We found a brilliant little place in the front on the left side, and we stood there with our friends. Bring on Anoraknophobia. This was one of the first h-era albums I got to know, so this was a big deal for me. I think I used the term ‘musical orgasm’ for when I heard <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fruit Of The Wild Rose</b> for the first time, when it changes from straight up blues to keyboard magic; and the gig confirmed my theory, it is a song that gives a musical orgasm. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">This Is The 21<sup>st</sup> Century</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> always blew my mind away, and standing in the gig with my other half’s strong arms around me, knowing that it’s him and me, makes that song particularly powerful. I would sing along, in the same theatrical manner as h on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Separated Out</b>, and I certainly did. ‘Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Between You And Me</b> was the closing number on the first gig I ever went to, so that is always special for me…I still see music in the sky, and I certainly have <b>A Map Of The World</b>… And I have no number of how many times I have had to endure my brother’s monologues of how much better clockwork is to quarts, and how you want clockwork, and not <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Quarts</b>…Obviously I thought about that during this song as well. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If My Heart Were A Ball</b> is just amazing. The only ones who could turn a lovesong into a scary song are Marillion. But <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I Meet God</b> made my other half break down in tears, completely, and he said so beautifully, ‘it’s one of those moments when things can no longer stay on the inside.’ A beautiful man with a beautiful soul, I will gladly kiss away his tears when the music of our souls moves him.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">They did the album in a playing order, so me breaking this up for this blog, is purely for dramatic reasons. They played it from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Between You And Me</b> to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If My Heart Were A Ball</b>. But then, the encores….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Both Trevor and I have had a rough year and a half, we both lost partners on each our side, and found each other in grief…and when grief turned to love, we found our home, so even though we are happy, we are still in a rather emotional place. My feel good song, the song I put on repeat to balance out the hard days is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This Strange Engine</b>; I normally update Facebook with ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TSE</b>on repeat’ on those occasions, so when h brought his cricket bat (it is a cricket bat, right? Well, you know the one…), it was my turn to break down, and boy did I break down. I even missed h standing right in front of me (I mentioned I was in front row…). I got hugs from my friends the next day as they had seen me totally lose it. The thing is, all of us cried, but it took ‘There was a boy who came into this world…’ and I was completely crushed. I didn’t need it on repeat, because as far as I’m concerned, it was the best I have ever heard <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TSE</b>. H’s voice was on fire, he reached the horizon and everything, and it was just musical bliss, musical genius, musical magic… And for me it was cathartic. I was emotionally drained after <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TSE</b>, I couldn’t cope with anything else, so when they started up <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gaza</b>and finished with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3 Minute Boy</b>, I was almost catatonic, as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TSE</b> will follow me for weeks… For me, personally, that version of that song was worth the whole weekend… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After the gig we went over to the market dome to listen to Stephanie’s specially selected prog rock songs, and we were not disappointed. Genesis, Pink Floyd, Rush, more Genesis, and it was just brilliant. We even danced, though at this point my feet were killing me… so we found our chalet mates, and got back for a bacon sarnie, a bit more music, and just enjoyed being with great friends. I had to crawl up the lethal stairs, stairs for which there should be a safety harness, but in the end I managed to calm down enough to close my eyes. With the arms of my wonderful man around me, I found some hours of sleep. But not many, as the first gig was buzzing in my mind. I still, as I am writing this, feel overwhelmed by the gig on Friday night. It was a musical master piece.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So, waking up to the Saturday was a day with expectations. Trevor and I had been picked to go to the signing at three, and we both felt quite nervous. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Make up on, check… weird hairdo, check…Vinyl of Marbles and Anoraknophobia, check… and pens, you know, just in case Lucy and Stephanie hadn’t thought of that… as if ;) I brought one more thing , a fantasy novel that I wrote. It is a fantasy about creativity, and what our world would be if this was taken away from humanity. And one of the key characters is loosely based on someone we all know. So I put my creative visualisation to work, and told Trevor that I’m going to be the first one in, and I’m going to give h his signed copy of my book. It really works, people, don’t be afraid to believe in your own abilities. Now I’ll visualise that he reads it, and hopefully likes it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I got my Marbles vinyl signed by all the band members, thank you. And I had a nice little chat about writing with h. Thank you so much to Stephanie and Lucy for letting us do this. Even though we were nervous…meeting our heroes and all…it was an honour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Ok, as a sort of come down from the emotional and almost spiritual high, we headed over to the Fun Factory for the last moments of the quiz, and our friends won. How great is that? We now had a clear mission on Sunday, cheering them on. I must admit, Paul, Adrian, Brett, Neil and Joanne, that on the Sunday I cheered for the band, I felt a bit sorry for them… You kicked their butts anyway&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The Swap the band – session, still on Sunday, was just so much fun, and I’m pleased we forced our feet to have an extra couple of hours standing, jumping, cheering, as it felt relaxed and awesome. BUT, it was Marillion doing their Marillion magic, and to miss out on that, would be wrong indeed. Martin totally rocked the place with his version of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Assassin</b>…just there as a fan…yeah, right… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The same Martin told us that it would be wise for us to stay in the back for Marbles night, and we took his advice. The only problem is that we’re both very short (though, Trevor is taller than me</span><span lang="EN-GB">), and people around us seemed to be over two meters tall…a human wall from a shorter perspective you might say, so we ended up seeing a bit of light, and nothing else. We didn’t even see the screen with the new beginning to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Invisible Man</b>, so we felt the gig hadn’t really started. We decided to move to where we were last night, and managed a bit of a view…but the gig didn’t really start until Fiona Trewavas and her friends let us in front of them. I even missed out on one of my favourite songs of all times, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Only Unforgiveable Thing</b> (I’ll plan ahead, and catch it properly in Wolverhampton). But after Ocean Cloud, we had a great spot, at the front, to the left. And the gig could start for us as well. I’m one of the ones who always thought <b>Angelina</b> was a fantastic song, and that it shows off h’s voice brilliantly. And I’m pleased to say that live it’s even better. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I think the high point of Marbles night was the story about how <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Drilling Holes</b> came into this world. How Marillion didn’t wrote the book about Alice and her adventures in Wonderland, I’ll never know, because that was basically it… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Neverland</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> is never anything but a success, and I must say that as musicians and performers they impress me. Even though we understood things weren’t quite right…and h had to run off stage to get ‘his medication’, as he put it, they just played on, and gave us all an amazing show. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">King</b>was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of This World</b> (see what I did there?) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sounds That Can’t Be Made</b> is a very powerful ending to a powerful show. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After Saturday night, we couldn’t take any rocking, so we went to bed… And we woke up ready for the final night, a night we at this point knew nothing about. The theories were many, far fetched, and full of wishful thinking. But we now know that Chris came the closest with his singles theory. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>All the wiser from last night, we showed up early, and got amazing spots, much thanks to Chris again, who kept a place at the front for a short person, and then we came along. We had a little glass of wine, can’t drink too much, no time for loo breaks… <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>They started off with eight Fish-songs, and the tent could almost take off from the excitement. I still remember a certain stunt in Wolverhampton two years ago, during <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Garden Party</b>, so I wasn’t sure I dared to look, but they are all fine, and the tent rocked without anyone falling from the sky... <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The beautiful version of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sympathy</b> was particularly moving, and again a proof of just how good h’s voice is now (I know a bit about singing…not to blow my own horn or anything, but I’m classically trained, and I’ve always been amazed at how great his voice truly is…my ticket in to the Marillion way of seeing the world, to the better way of life…). But the best moment for me from Sunday night was when they did <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Man Of A Thousand Faces.</b> I had never heard it live before, and of course it is one of my favourite songs. It was magic. And this time I didn’t break down like I did when they played <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TSE</b> on Friday, this time I just felt so incredibly happy. I am truly blessed to be a part of musical bliss like this. And when the crowd continued to sing, they started to play again…and the untrained ear might not have noticed that the crowd had dropped a few notes, but the band certainly did. This is true musicians, people, they followed us, and not the other way around. And the ending of the show with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hocus Pocus by Focus</b>, did again confirm how an amazing singer h is, and just how great his voice was this weekend. That’s some high notes in there, and they were spot on…(I have a musical condition called allergy of notes out of pitch</span><span lang="EN-GB">). So like I said in a Facebook update after the signing, cloud nine is in sight from cloud ten. To say we felt elevated and amazing is an understatement. <br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We headed, buzzing with post gig joy and smiles, over to the Rockaoke, and just danced our asses off. Felicity has a rather good voice, most of the rockaoke performers had. It was such a blast. H turned up and rocked the rockaoke and did three songs, but by then we had danced over the market place </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"> on to the chill zone in the Marked Dome where we got hugs and kisses from friends form around the world, plus a burger, which was not wrong at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So, how in the world do you put in words the feelings a weekend of so much more than normal rock concerts set in motion?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I don’t know if I did, but I gave it a good go. I am a lucky woman who gets to be a part of this. I owe Marillion so much, I can’t even start to list everything…But one thing is certain, this is so much more than just a weekend with three gigs. This is a better way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Silje Haarr <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Friday<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />Anoraknophobia (the full album)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />TSE<br />Gaza<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">3 Minute Boy (with the longest scream ever)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Saturday<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />Marbles (The full double album)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />Out Of This World<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">King<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Sounds That Can’t Be Made<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunday</b><br /><br />Market Square Heroes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Garden Party<o:p></o:p></span>&nbsp;Kayleigh</div>Lavender<br />Heart Of Lothian<br />Warm Wet Circles<br />Sugar Mice<br />Incommunicado<br />Hooks In You<br />Uninvited Guest<br />No One an<br />Dry Land<br />Sympathy<br />Great Escape<br />Lap of Luxury<br />Beautiful<br />Man Of A Thousand Faces<br />80 Days<br />These Chains<br />See It Like A Baby<br />Thank You Whoever You Are<br />Whatever Is Wrong With You<br />Power<br />Hocus Pocus<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Some images from our amazing weekend x</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>2090</o:Words> <o:Characters>11081</o:Characters> <o:Company>Privat</o:Company> <o:Lines>92</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>26</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>13145</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> 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src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_gpL7YvXTUc/VRGCzotq3UI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/5ACO_ZpADOc/s1600/11077795_10200307246120225_8849464834376189657_n.jpg" height="320" width="176" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3FozDoMfAI/VRGC27qv_gI/AAAAAAAAAaA/TE1loAdzZQs/s1600/11083591_798353740242431_8583094212864149796_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3FozDoMfAI/VRGC27qv_gI/AAAAAAAAAaA/TE1loAdzZQs/s1600/11083591_798353740242431_8583094212864149796_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-43736135483755508062015-02-07T14:07:00.000-08:002015-03-24T10:15:44.941-07:00How music can change a life, and send you on the path you were supposed to be from the very beginning...<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">This entry is featured in a book about Marillion and their fans.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB">In the spring of 2013 I went to my first ever Marillion weekend. I travelled alone, and felt like I was going to meet destiny. Was I ever right? It just didn’t happen it the order I anticipated. <br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>I met my friends at the Moon Under The Sea, or Sun Under The Moon, I could never get the name right (The Moon Under Water), and suddenly I was a part of something quite amazing. The pub became a sort of base camp for the people I hung out with, and I met so many new friends, and wonderful human beings. Among them was a smiling man. I remember thinking he seemed nice, but in a friend kind of way, as he was there with his significant someone, and I had a partner at the time (he was ill, and couldn’t make it to Wolverhampton). I just marvelled in the part where I made so many new friends, little did I know that I would call one of them the love of my soul. And little did we both know the grief and horror we would go through before the nice picture was a reality. I’m actually glad neither of us knew, as what was ahead of us was loss, trauma and death. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>This wonderful weekend of music and friends was a safe haven of something I have never found anywhere else. And the concert on Saturday, Brave night, was Out Of This World, and going back to the ordinary life was painfully difficult. And on the bus back to Heathrow, I must admit tears were running, and all the beautiful faces of friends forever were flashing before my inner eye. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">That autumn I got engaged to my partner. I hadn’t been together with him for that long, but I realise now that he was in a hurry to live, and I said yes. He did warn me, he said: I could die. And I said: Well, we have no guarantees. But he knew what he was talking about, and on the 20<sup>th</sup> of December, after having sat by his hospital bed for a long, long week, Pete died. I remember sitting down in front of the computer having to share the news with our Marillion family, they had all followed his illness from the side, so I felt I owed it to them to let them know. But in all my writing days, that message was the hardest I have ever had to compose. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The support I got from the Marillion family was overwhelming, and so touching, that it helped me in those first horrible days. I got a message from Carolyn, she sent me her condolences… and then, a few days later, on the morning of December 26<sup>th</sup>, Trevor posted a similar message on Marillion and fans to the one I had posted on the 20<sup>th</sup>. Carolyn had passed away… And there we were. Both of our futures were ripped away from under us, we were left numb. But something good happened in the middle of the terror. I got a message in my inbox from Trevor, and we started talking. We shared the worst moments in our lives, and nobody knew as well as he did how I really felt. Nobody knew as well as I did how he really felt. <br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>In the beginning of our correspondence, it was all about helping the other one to survive, to see some sort of light in the darkest tunnel we had ever been in. How to sleep, how to ever find the courage to go back to work and university, how to survive the images of people’s final moments without entering into a nightmare state of mind, and having him there for that was certainly my lifeline. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">But then things started to change. The people around us, friends of both Pete and Carolyn, probably thought things happened too fast. But not to us…we had been through the war together, we had been through the longest months of our lives together. We lived with the blinking images of final moments, the ringing of someone’s last words, the thoughts of whether or not we could have done or said something differently, and January and February seemed endless. We spoke together almost every day, and when you have someone who understands what you’re going through like that, it truly is the most special feeling in the world. He really knew what I was going through, he could relate to all the new emotions raging through my mind, emotions thankfully most people don’t ever have to relate to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">So, in the beginning of March, I knew that I really wanted to meet Trevor properly, and not just talk with him on Facebook chat. We both knew that doing something none of us ever had done before, like a leap of faith, was becoming a reality. And we leapt. He got on a plane and came to see me in Norway. And on the 18<sup>th</sup> of March, we found the love of our souls, we suddenly had a future again. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We know that the people we lost died while we still loved them. We know that it will never be a non-topic to talk about them with each other. We know that we still will remember the trauma we both went through, but we will do so together. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>I have never met a man like Trevor, he is kind and sweet, intelligent, funny, in touch with his emotions, and so strong, stronger than I think he knows himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>873</o:Words> <o:Characters>4629</o:Characters> <o:Company>Privat</o:Company> <o:Lines>38</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>10</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>5492</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> 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mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">This summer we went on a holiday together. We drove to Devon and Cornwall, saw Tintagel, among other places… and in the car we listened to all of Marillion’s studio albums, we sang along, loudly, sometimes slightly out of tune, but always completely convincing, and we had so much fun. It is hard to pinpoint one specific song, when all the songs, all the albums, have served as a back drop to our lives; to the drama, to the trauma, to the grief, to the fun and to the love we share. We are true Marillionaires, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Now we are both looking forward to two Marillion weekends together in 2015, and hope to see both old and new friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-86805520129088349532014-12-17T05:10:00.001-08:002015-04-13T16:42:54.410-07:00Me singing my favorite Christmas song<a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4871497601732&amp;set=vb.1726147130&amp;type=2&amp;theater">https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4871497601732&amp;set=vb.1726147130&amp;type=2&amp;theater</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is an amateur recording of me singing Gabriel's Message the 13th of December 2014 :)<br />I found this carol through my favourite rock band, Marillion. And since then, this has been my favourite carol, and I hope I does it justice.<br /><br />x<br /><br />Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-12940713496523972772014-12-17T05:07:00.001-08:002015-02-07T14:08:54.639-08:00The Christmas PersonalitiesSeason greetings to you all.<br /><br />This time of year brings out a lot of feelings in us all, both good and bad. And in the middle of traditions and good memories of a normal Christmas personality, we meet the people who act and look like Christmas threw up on them, and we meet people who would make The Grinch look like Santa. I will make a little Much Ado About Shakespeare list, and try to locate all the different types. If I now, with this entry, push some buttons, well... it's all intentional ;) But good fun :D<br /><br />1. The Christmas Saint<br />Starting with the good guys, or so they would want the world to think.<br />'I just gave to charity, it feels so meaningful this time of year.' And from a person who's giving to charity all year without broadcasting, to pat someone who gives once a year on the back seems a bit over the top. But still, giving to charity once a year, is clearly better than not giving at all. But we all know that they need dinner in July as well as in December, they need shoes in March, they need school all year, they need fresh water and medicine every day when they are thirsty and ill... and there are people in this world who works hard to make this happen every day, not just during Christmas, so don't brag about a single donation.<br />The Christmas Saint is also the one that will give presents of the type: 'A goat has been given in your name to a tribe in the Amazon jungle, thank you so much for your generosity.' And then you're left feeling guilty for actually wanting a real present, even though you're the one with a monthly donation to Joriel in the Philippines, who support Amnesty International every month, and on SMS, who give a donation to shelters every month, so that two people get a warm meal a day, who gives to MSF every month, to help them fight Ebola, and other threatening pandemies.. and you end up feeling guilty because you haven't done enough, because you didn't give a goat. Don't worry, you have :D And it helps, the goat helps, the dinner donations, the sponsoring of a child in the Philippines...We who live in this part of the world have to help. We cannot be the ones who have so much, and can't give to those who have so little... history will tell us that if they are held down long enough, we'll have a revolution at our hands...understandably so. So let's keep the giving spirit of Christmas alive all year long.<br /><br />2. The Christmas Junkie<br />This person has covered every inch of their house in Christmas decorations. They proudly wear their selection of hideous Christmas jumpers - and having said this, I actually think the part with a hideous Christmas jumper is slightly funny. We should all get a bit silly during Christmas, stop taking ourselves too seriously, and be a bit goofy :) However, getting slightly off track here. We were talking about the Christmas junkies :) They send 734 Christmas cards every year. They make costumes for the Church's nativity play. They put up three Christmas trees in November, to really soak up the Christmas feeling...they place Christmas spice in every corner, just to savour that Christmas smell. I just saw a bloke on telly, and in his version of reality... he wakes up to Christmas morning every single day...he has Christmas dinner every day, of each year...he is the founder of the Christmas Junkies, I think....<br /><br />3. The Christmas Whatever<br />This is a person who couldn't give a flying "#$% whether it's Christmas or not (but secretly I think they do, the 'whatever' is just a defense. Having said that, they do exist, the people who really doesn't care.). This is a person who will loudly tell people how he or she don't really care about Christmas. How they choose to do something else that Christmas related actions on the days in question. And they will tell you about how silly your choice to celebrate Christmas is, and all you can think about is maybe someone should invite this person to a proper Christmas celebration, and give him or her a good hug :)<br /><br />4. The Christmas Fury<br />Now, this is a person with issues, maybe they only got socks from Santa one year, and now he or she takes it out on all other people with an irrational anger towards everything even remotely Christmasy. The Christmas Fury is a person who spends a lot of time hating, and who will not hesitate telling you how much he or she hates, and how he or she is walking the only path of justice and normality... I think we all have tried, and concluded with the fact that arguing with a person like this is like a broken pencil, pointless... Happiness is in many cases a choice, and so is fury...<br /><br />But I'm going to take the opportunity to be a bit serious here, and mention the one thing that makes me livid during Christmas...and that is adults forgetting how much more important their children's Christmas is than alcohol. Please, keep the alcohol to a minimum, maybe even stay away...it's a couple of days when it means so much to the little ones, and cost you so little to stay away. Think of them first...please.<br /><br />5. The Christmas Stresser<br />We all know this person, I'm sure. This is an individual who only see the work and the stress with Christmas, they don't see the good parts. These people let themselves be overwhelmed by how clean and perfect everything has to look, how all the presents have to be expensive enough, how the house has to look perfectly... A little stress to make sure the meal is ready in time, and the important presents are in the house, yes, but to let this be so stressful that when you finally get to the opening of the presents, it is considered 'hell', and that is not good. We live in a part of the world we have so much that we have a mountain under the tree, and opening the presents is stressful, more than cosy.<br /><br />It doesn't matter to your children if there is a dust bunny or two in the corners (unless your son-like mine-has dust allergy, in which case I have to hoover...), as long as they can spend some quality time with their parents and their family... and by quality time I mean mobile phone free hours with people...looking them in the eye :D<br />Sorry, don't mean to get on my moral high horse here, I just think that Christmas is a time to really leave technology in a corner, with the dust bunnies, and spend time, talking and interacting with the little ones x<br /><br /><br />6. The Christmas Chiller<br />'Chill, Christmas is a long time away still.' he says, and it's early afternoon on Christmas eve (which is the big day in Norway). 'The shops are open for fifteen more minutes, loads of time... These geniuses might present presents of 'I just ordered it online, it's on its way'-kind. Or you get toilet seat covers from the petrol station, or something like that. Obviously, the thought counts, but when there seems to have been no thought whatsoever, then it's a bit annoying.<br /><br /><br />7. The Christmas Panicer<br />'Oh my God! Christmas is only four months away and I haven't started buying presents.' 'Or, I bought all the presents four years ago, but now I can't find them.' 'What if they won't like what I got, I have to get some more.'<br />This person is a Christmas Stresser on speed. The stress has taken over, and the worries about what could go wrong is defining every moment...when you could choose to think about what could go right :) Chill, not too much...as things might need to be in the house before the halls are decked with holly, but chill. Being together is the best thing &lt;3<br /><br />8. The Christmas Cheapskate<br />The extreme is always over the top, whether we're talking about the big spender or the Scrooge of the group. And this person is many times also confused with, or actually fused with the Christmas Fury... Though, some times this person is a self satisfying person who has a good reply and a perfectly good reason not to give people a Christmas present, and to some degree we might agree with them. The society is a greedy society, and money definitely talks. But then I suggest getting creative rather than cheap. Because I don't like overspending, but I do like putting thought and care into the things I give my family and friends for Christmas. This means sitting down and creating something, like a painting, or a beautiful Christmas Bauble or knitting a scarf, or something like that.<br />Creativity, my friends &lt;3<br /><br />9. The Christmas Snob<br />The cheapskate's complete opposite. This is a person who, when using crystals on their tree, only uses Swarowski, or diamonds. This becomes a bit sad if this person is one with a normal income, in which case one has to ask, what and to whom are you trying to prove? Come Christmas eve, it's mostly family anyway... And the family, and children, don't care about the expensive baubles on your tree, they care about the fact that there IS a tree :)<br />I do like fancy and sparkling baubles on my tree... and I will decorate my tree so that it's my kind of beautiful... but I can guarantee you that there will only be ONE swarowski crystal on my tree, a little snowflake :) I'm no snob...ask those who knows me, I need protection from myself, that's how much I spill when I for example eat ;)<br /><br />10. The Christmas Singer<br />I am not talking about the bands of high quality that have a few gigs just before Christmas because their friends request them to.<br />I'm talking about women in tight dresses, showing indecent cleavage, and polished men in suits, standing in churches singing about that little baby in the manger with pathos and seriousness, mentally rubbing their hands with greed from the ticket and CD-sale money...clearly not giving the previously mentioned flying "#$% about Christmas, compassion or sharing, as long as people come to hear them scream the Christmas into existence. I don't think I have to tell you, but this kind of Christmas spirit is one that I have developed a serious allergy against. I could even turn into The Christmas Fury when exposed to this kind of fake culture<br /><br />I must admit that I on different days could fit into any of the above, but I think, in general, I have quite normal feelings towards Christmas. It has always been a time I really appreciate. But last year I lost someone just before Christmas, and this has made me think.<br />And the only thing that really matters in this time is to spend it with the people you love. And really spend it with them, not just sit next to them, surfing on each your tablet... Suddenly it's too late... So, that's the only thing I will urge you all to do, from America to Japan, from Norway to Australia, from England to India &lt;3<br /><br />Happy Christmas, my friends...<br />Love and light &lt;3<br /><br /><br />I want to thank Linda Fjeld Nesvåg for the idea for this entry. She's a fellow student, fellow blogger, and most important of all, a very good friend &lt;3Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-69471226141743443872014-10-20T18:53:00.000-07:002015-02-07T14:08:37.292-08:00A strange year indeedHello my dear readers.<br /><br />I am terribly sorry for remaining silent for so long. But this is what happens when life gets in the way of all the plans you plan, and all the intentions you indend.<br /><br />This post will be of the personal kind, and I will take you with me on the wildness of mind, spirit and life that my past year has been.<br /><br />It started with my fiancé, Pete, getting very ill. He sadly passed away the 20th of December 2013. And for me, a woman in my late thirties, experiencing that kind of loss at this stage in life, and for my son to face death at the age of nine, was and still is surreal. I missed my son's ninth birthday in Norway as I was sitting by Pete's hospital bed in England.<br />The morning on the day he died, I was in England, but I had a plane taking me back to Norway for Christmas. I had a terrible feeling, but I got on the plane. A part of me is glad I did, because I don't know how I would have coped with the loss had I not been surrounded by my parents, my son and my friends as I got the message of his death by his mother. There is obviously a lot more to the story that I'm not telling you, because it is still very fresh and raw in my memory. But Pete sent me home, so that I wouldn't be alone... He died with my voice on the phone, and his mother by his side.<br /><br />So how do you cope with the loss of someone you had planned to grow old with?<br />The answer is that you cope as well as you can.<br />I couldn't sink completely into the sadness, because I'm a single mum, and my nine year old needed me. But the thing is, my son grew with this. He showed some amazing caring skills, and I wouldn't have made it trough this without him.<br /><br />But getting through funerals and night terrors the first month is one thing, it is when the world around you start forgetting what you went through, when they expect you to go back to normal (even close family had this expectation), that the true strain of such a loss really comes to the surface. But in that situation I wasn't alone.<br />One of my friends lost his girlfriend only five days after I lost Pete, and we started talking right away. Because when everyone kept saying they knew what we were going through, he actually did, and could feel my hopeless emptiness, and he could understand better than anyone. It was good to have him.<br />I also sent myself to a therapist, because I didn't want my son to suffer...I needed to get my life back on track.<br />But like I said, it's when the everyday hits, you truly feel the emptiness. And I was lost. I had been alone for five years when I met Pete, and I am not good with being alone. So one desperate day in February I fell on my knees and screamed out in agony. I pleaded with Pete to help me, that I can't do this life alone. I said that either he had to come back to me, or he had to send me someone that he chose for me, because I was never good with the finding a mate. And I don't think I have been more serious and meant it more in any prayers I have ever said... It must have worked, because it took Trevor William two days to send me messages that couldn't be misinterpreted... he liked me.<br />Oh, and Trevor William is the one that lost his girlfriend... Hollywood couldn't have done this better. Because Trevor is the love of my soul. What I don't have, he fulfills, what he doesn't have, I fulfill... and this partnership is the lifelong, eternal even, love I have looked for all the years I have walked this earth.<br />It might be silly to thank Pete for Trevor, but I choose to believe he heard my cry, and I choose to believe that he chose Trevor for me...because Trevor really is the best man for me.<br /><br />So, that was the dramatic part of my life. With Trevor I have travelled England in these months, we have seen Tintagel, we have seen Minack Theatre and Land's End, we have seen sublime pre-historic (almost) manmade structures, we have seen the strange roads in Devon, we have walked the streets of London, we have seen Shakespeare plays in Stratford Upon Avon, we have climbed (too) steep hills (too steep for me ;) he is very fit ;) ), and we have spent a lot of time getting to know each other... and sitting in Norway tonight, knowing he is in England at the moment, and knowing it's eight days until I see him again, is almost agony... but it is also a very good feeling. I have found serenity in this amazing man from Leicester. &lt;3 And he's definitely worth the wait &lt;3<br /><br />As some of you know, I am an author...I mean, just look at the long posts I have ;) and this April my debut novel came out. It is called The Tenth Muse, and is an important story about inspiration, and about how human kind is getting lost in the search for happiness at the mall. I have written the book in both English and Norwegian, and you can get it at the attached link :)<br />Tomorrow I'm actually going to have a pre-launch for the Norwegian edition, and the reason for this post is that I'm a wee bit nervous. I have been working for my book for so long, and now it's here. I am proud, but I am also...nervous.<br />And on the 30th I will have my proper Norwegian launch at a book store where I live. And that is when I will see Trevor again, because he will be here with me for that...<br /><br />I truly am a lucky woman. I have the best son any mother could ask for. And I have the best man any woman could ask for. I am blessed with an over active imagination, and I will keep writing for as long as my thoughts are cohesive and my fingers can dance over the keyboard.<br />I have been through a lot, and I am still standing. What's more, I will use what I have been through to maybe create a bit of hope for people in similar circumstances.<br /><br />I am a lucky woman indeed, though I do look forward to a year with a bit less drama, hopefully.<br />Be inspired, people, and if you have someone you love...tell them today &lt;3<a href="http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman-novel/">http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman-novel/</a>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-7876685560407555512014-06-22T05:50:00.000-07:002015-02-07T14:09:31.956-08:00The Doctor, and fan behaviourI have watched an iconic British Television show for a while now, and the name of this show is Doctor Who. It is a Television series that had its origin in 1963.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I was sat in England when they aired the 50th anniversary episode, and the people who were there with me couldn't get a word in if they tried, not that they tried. But sitting there, watching a pivotal episode like that, felt almost like being in The Colosseum, I was suddenly a part of history. So I felt like I had to write something on this brilliant Television experience, and to address the fan behaviour, both within the show and the storyline, as well as fan behaviour and hero adoration on the outside. The actor playing The Doctor becomes a hero, and not just in England, this reaches most of the western world.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I also feel that this is a work in progress, as I watch more and more, I will get more and more thoughts, and as I do, I will update this post. :) And a little thing, I'm not an expert, and I might say something that's wrong, or maybe I have simply misunderstood, so go easy on me. This post represent my personal opinion :) And obviously I am a fan, so I won't be able to look at this from a completely cold and scientific angle, not that I can brag on being either cold or scientific. However, I will try to remove myself as the fan from this, and look a bit at how this might look for an outsider.<br /><br />I called the entry The Doctor, and fan behaviour, and the reason for this is that we have a fan mechanism at work on more levels than us as the viewer. I will, however, look at it from a quasi psychoanalytical point of view as well, in terms of some of the villains and their relationship with the doctor. Some of them are more connected to The Doctor than we might think about when we watch the weekly episode (or take seventeen during one sitting on Netflix - which is a reference to addiction and fandom btw).<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>236</o:Words> <o:Characters>1346</o:Characters> <o:Company>Privat</o:Company> <o:Lines>11</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1652</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pkt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pkt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The Doctor thrives in the limelight, and his companions provide him with the fame he probably deserves, having saved the planet numerous times. Only a selected few know about his existence, and these selected few become addicted to his personality, to him being constantly on the move, and to the excitement and thrills while on the move. We might suggest that they become action junkies, or doctor junkies. And we can certainly draw a line from their behaviour to the fan behaviour we see in for example teenagers and their subject of adoration, I don't want to mention the Beliebers, but I might have to.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Another fun fact, and completely irrelevant to this, is the fan base of my favourite band, Marillion, who have very dedicated and loyal fans, but that will be an entry on its own.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Getting back to the Doctor. Even though they know The Doctor, and talk to him, they are at his timetable, at his mercy. To summon him is a thing only a few could do. When he wants to contact them, he will, never the other way around (and this is also an interpretation, as both Rose, Martha and Donna manages to summon him. Even Mickey Smith and Donna's grandfather manages to summon him, but in his world he always gets surprised when someone manages to do exactly that, it baffles him. He's in charge, or so he thinks, but he really isn't...he is a madman in a box). His friends will be on the constant lookout for him when he's away, always on alert, always wanting him to come back, mourning him as a dead loved one when he's gone, always wanting him to do just one more before curtain call. I will put in a small spoiler alert, as I probably will spoil some important points, and if you haven't watched it yet, and plan to, then you probably should keep on reading, as I have many good points, but in regards of what happens in the show...maybe not? Though, I suspect you cannot keep away now :) So, spoiler...</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Rose Tyler, for example, cannot stay at home with her mother and her boyfriend, Mickey when The Doctor tempts her with cataclysmic happenings in the universe ten thousand light years away, she chooses The Doctor over the life on earth. And he mother's prediction of her future life, as an old woman sitting on some strange planet somewhere, not remembering who she is or what made her come to that point, is correct in a sense. The only difference is that Rose remains the only one of The Doctor's companions who actually ends up with The Doctor, romantically, the fact that he is a mortal version of his Timelord doppelgänger, is considered technicalities. The real Doctor would, in my opinion, have chosen Rose if he could. But all of the companions end up falling a little bit for The Doctor, even though some of them would never admit to the fact.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But let's turn this a little bit. The Doctor himself is addicted to his friends. He needs an audience, he cannot simply save the world and not have anyone not know about it. Not even he is that noble. And when he does travel alone, he gets high on power, so he needs an audience for more reasons that just someone to awe, he needs someone to stop him.<br />Spoiler:<br />The Tenth Doctor's first episode, he says he's a man with no second chances, and at the end of his run (just before the eleventh doctor takes over), he proves this to be right. He becomes clever and dangerous. One cannot change fixed points in time, not even a timelord, but he attempts to do just that, having decided he's the closest thing there is to a God. Power corrupts, even the timelords. Look at The Master, he's fully aware he's above humanity, and instead of trying to protect, he wants to govern. And in the end, the tenth Doctor almost becomes The Master. The only thing he didn't take into account was human nature, and that snaps him out of it. Fan behaviour is well and good, but at one point we see through our heroes, and see them for what they are.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Even a fan must admit that the first episode in the fourth series is absolutely appalling, and had they continued with episodes of that poor quality, they would have lost even their most loyal fans. So, fans are loyal as long as they get what they want.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The Daleks are the Doctor’s double, only they are the same. “You would make a good Dalek” (Dalek Kahn) (episode 6 new series 1) The Dalek comes alive because of Rose’s dna, but he says he is contaminated because Rose gave the Dalek human emotions like fear. The Dalek gets an identity crisis.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Doctor also suffers an identity crisis. Who am I, what am I? Doctor Who… This is the biggest question of the whole series, Doctor Who. Even though we get close to an answer, I think, and suspect that not even the Doctor knows. He has been this question for so long, that the question itself has become a part of who he is, and to let go of the question would be to not be the man he has become. In some parts of the future, Doctor means Soldier. In some parts of the future all alien forms fear the Doctor... the only ones who remain blissfully unaware of his existence, are the humans.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Master is the ID, and a very big part of The Doctor. And they are the weapon. That is why the doctor never needs a weapon, because he is the weapon himself. He is a weapon that makes other people do the dirty work. And that can link back to fan behaviour. If someone are admired, people will do what they ask. And sometimes they will perform rather difficult tasks, just because the one they admire asks. This can obviously translate to real life. If a teenager's hero asked him or her to do something that objected to their moral compass, they would still (in some cases) do it, because to keep on someone's good side is more important than technicalities such as morality and wants and likes. Some take advantage of this fact.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The eleventh Doctor, in the Praise Him, says: “I’m not a hero, I really am just a mad man in a box."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Amy Pond has an almost religious belief in The Doctor, to the point where it’s inhibiting her to properly live. She’s always waiting for The Doctor to save her. <br />A bit of a foreshadowing (spoiler): The Doctor predicts standing over Amy and Rory’s grave, and he will when they encounter the weeping angels in New York.&nbsp;</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB">The Doctor will continue to gather fans in front of the TV, in front of screens as such, and people will continue to write about and discuss the science behind it. People will continue to write about a fictional character as if he was real. And having been around for 50 years, he has taken on a life of his own, and I would not be surprised if the blue box appeared in my back yard x</span></div><!--EndFragment--><br /><br />Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-17566543469881406312014-06-02T05:50:00.003-07:002015-02-07T14:09:56.982-08:00The Tenth MuseGood early summer to you all...<br /><br />I have written a book, and it has been published... Now I encourage you all to read it. I think it is a very important story :)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/">http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/</a>Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-63203156072763914412014-05-04T13:10:00.002-07:002015-02-07T14:10:16.275-08:00Sonnett in loveThat dreadful day I thought my life would end<br />I lost a piece of my soul and my heart<br />Shattered and broken, my soul could not mend<br />This was the IT, our big death do us part<br /><br />Then, a nice smile, a 'hi' out of the blue<br />How can my soul get three halves of a whole?<br />So strange to acknowledge, could there be two?<br />This new wonder is a part of my soul<br /><br />Finding new courage, united and strong<br />In your wonderful eyes I see love's light<br />Souls are entwined, we're correcting the wrong<br />You and me, uncomplicated and right<br /><br />My soul choose you, it was always us two<br />My sweet Trevor William, I love youSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-7564829440287421542013-11-07T05:48:00.000-08:002015-02-07T14:10:57.411-08:00The Only Unforgivable ThingMarillion has a song called The Only Unforgivable Thing, and it's one of my favorite songs ever. It is beautiful, sad, honest, scary and it has a sense of catharsis to it. I always end up feeling so much better after having listened to that song. They have other songs like it, Neverland probably being their most famous catharsis song. But this isn't an entry about Marillion, though they go on tour this weekend, and I'm not going to be there...a thought that keeps bringing me to my knees, but, silver lining, my soulmate has promised to come with me to the next Marillion weekend, so I'll be satisfied, though I suspect a &nbsp;few green thoughts this weekend. But in true Much Ado About Shakespeare style, I'm rambling on about things that hardly is the point. My point with this entry is; what is the only unforgivable thing? Oh, yes, welcome to one of the serious entries. I'm aware I haven't posted in a while, let's just say it's been a rather busy autumn, and not only in a good way. So why, do you ask, is the first entry since summer a serious one? Well, I think it has to be, because life isn't always fun and games.<br /><br />What is the only unforgivable thing, and can we find it in the literature we so dearly love? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, the literature I love, and talk about here, is full of characters faced with the choice of do or don't, the only unforgivable thing.<br />Aragorn takes two lifetimes to decide not to do the only unforgivable thing. He has avoided his fate long enough, and finally, at the black gates, he emerges as his true self. The true king of Gondor, Isildur's heir... and better yet, Elendil's heir, the first human king to fight Sauron.<br />Gollum is consumed by the only unforgivable thing, he cannot save himself. Even when Frodo "tames" him, he's still his own biggest enemy, and he is above anyone else Lord Of The Rings' tragic character, and falls under his own desire to follow his only desire. Not that following ones own desire is a bad thing, but when a desire for own gain becomes more important than, say, love and being surrounded by family and friends, then you end up losing.<br />Frodo almost loses that battle. Had Gollum not been there, Frodo's mind would have been lost to greed. Instead he loses a finger, which is a fair loss come to think of it. A loss I think he's happy about in hindsight. A finger for ones sanity, an easy choice, or is it?<br />Iago in Shakespeare's Othello is so jealous and so racist that he can't function as a normal human being. He can't enjoy his own life because a man he doesn't deem worthy has more power than himself. The only thing on his mind is to hurt the Moorish Othello. And the colour of his skin is highly important here. In his mind it is wrong that a Moor can have wealth and prosperity, and a beautiful wife as such. And, spoiler alert, he manages to ruin Othello's life, and Desdemona dies at Othello's hand. What makes a man (because this doesn't only happen in the stories of old) be so jealous of someone that he's willing to destroy both his own life and the life of the one he's envious of? Is there some kind of poetic justice I don't understand? What makes people hold on to grudge for years and years?<br />Some old disagreement makes the Capulets and the Montagues fight until two children dies (because Romeo and Juliet were thirteen year olds). And why should someone feel the need to decide who another person can or cannot see and love? What gives someone that kind of power? We are all in capacity of one true possession in life, our own life. We do not own anything or anyone else. So what gives people that kind of power?<br /><br />I am being a bit too serious, I sense... But I think these are important questions to ask. I have just as much right to my place on this planet as Obama, or men in power (because statistics show that there are far more male leaders than female - I live in a country with a female leader, but I don't much care about her political views, she's against sharing and general human compassion, not to get political in any ways...). We should never excuse our existence, not to people in our close social groups, or to our governments. We are all children of the earth, and all of us came naked and full of prosperity into this world. A poor child in Sudan has just as much of a claim to his place on this planet as a child in wealthy Norway.<br /><br />Though they manage to sort through it in the end (because it 's a comedy), both Beatrice and Benedict are victims of pride. They both know, deep down, that the other one is their other half, but they choose to bicker and quarrel for a while before finally seeing the truth. The truth is that they were born to spend their lives together, and they will only be happy once they realise said truth.<br />And having entered the word truth in this, we are close to something. Because what is unforgivable for one person is maybe completely okay for another person. We can also talk about truth in society vs truth inside the four walls of our homes. Some people find it perfectly acceptable to beat the crap out of spouses and children. We can argue that they have inner demons, but when is it acceptable to abuse someone else's God given body and right to dignity and life? When? No matter someone's past, what gives them the right? "I was beaten myself, so I hit people"...? Yet, people live in these conditions, sometimes a lifetime, and accept it. How so? Is that the only unforgivable thing?<br />Is it the only unforgivable thing to lie down in self pity, blaming the world for our own shortcomings? Sometimes we actually have to kick ourselves in the backside and get over ourselves. I'm obviously not talking about people who are ill, and need rest, love and care. But then again surfaces another dilemma, when is it up to other people to judge when enough is enough? Is that something other people can decide?<br />So, is the only unforgivable thing to bee a victim of the seven sins of the bible? I think we as human beings all fall short if this is the rule of the universe. I personally think it's not that easy. And lust, for one, is not only a bad thing, if you ask me. And the others can be quite handy as well, when used controlled, and not taking over ones entire being. Determining what is unforgivable is difficult.<br /><br />I actually think that the only unforgivable thing is denying oneself a chance to be as good as one can. No matter the situation, country we're born in, the prospect of future we're faced with, to be anything less than we can is unforgivable. Not on a global scale, not in a society scale, not even in the scale of four walls... but on a highly personal scale. A person who use violence knows it's wrong. A person who do drugs knows it's wrong, a person who cheats on someone knows it's wrong, &nbsp;a person who lies knows it's wrong... a person who kills knows it's wrong, deep down, we all know this...no matter the cause, we all know! I know this sounds a bit naive and silly, but as we have an obligation to the mutual good of our society, we also have an obligation towards ourselves. We have an obligation to be the best we that we can. And no one can do it for us. And that is, I think, the only unforgivable thing, to give in to, and blame, everything else in the world, than to look to the only one who can make the changes that needs to come.<br />Only YOU can change you x xSilje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860865302839545595.post-13330201375603569862013-09-23T13:27:00.002-07:002013-09-29T02:05:00.301-07:00Sonnet for my beloved<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>82</o:Words> <o:Characters>473</o:Characters> <o:Company>Privat</o:Company> <o:Lines>3</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>580</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pkt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pkt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Vanlig tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tonight it sunk in, I finally saw</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I could see with your eyes for the first time</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The truth was kept from me, brutal and raw</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I kept it from me, it was my own crime</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tonight it made sense, those years spent in fear</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Fearing the mirror, that brutal judgement</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Your voice in my head, the words I can hear</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Enlightenment, now I knew what you meant</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">You see what I never dared to believe</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">You see what I considered disappeared</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Having lost it, I thought I had to grieve</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">A future of sadness I would have feared</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I get it now, I can see what you see</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As I can see your beauty, you see me…</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Silje Haarrhttps://plus.google.com/109230392889133926037noreply@blogger.com0